Category: News on the Homepage

What’s better than successfully getting a client out of a lawsuit? Getting them out of a lawsuit without having to pay a settlement, or incur any trial costs or expenses.

CMM’s litigation team did just that with a complex motion in this complex case. The plaintiff alleged that he was injured at a construction site and sued our client (a sub-contractor), other contractors, and the building owner for general negligence and violations of New York State Labor Law (“Labor Law”). The general contractor also sued our client for contractual indemnification.   

CMM litigators David Green and Scott Middleton moved for summary judgment, seeking a dismissal of all claims against our client. We argued that the plaintiff was not entitled to the protections of the labor law, and that our client was not liable to the plaintiff for the accident – and that therefore, the plaintiff’s claims should be dismissed as well as the indemnification claims.  

In this outright win for our client, the court agreed, finding that the plaintiff was not entitled to the protections of the Labor Law, that our client was not negligent or otherwise liable to the plaintiff or to any co-defendants for indemnification, and ordering that all claims against our client be dismissed. 

CMM recognizes that each case requires a unique approach, and we work with clients to determine the best strategy for their business. Contact us to learn more.

By Jamie Herzlich, Newsday

Under recent legislation, adult survivors of sexual assault in New York can now have legal recourse even if the statute of limitations has passed against the alleged abuser and potentially the abuser’s employer for cases that could go back decades. 

The Adult Survivors Act provides a one-year lookback window starting Nov. 24, 2022, for those sexually assaulted when they were over the age of 18 to bring forth civil claims, regardless of when the abuse occurred. They would have until Nov. 23, 2023 to file such claims. Previous legislation opened up such a window between 2019 and 2021 for those who were under 18. 

This poses new challenges for companies in defending claims where the alleged abuse was tied to the workplace in some way, legal experts say. 

It’s unclear if the Adult Survivors Act will result in as many lawsuits, but employers are definitely at risk, says Arthur Yermash, a partner in the Westbury office of Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP. 

“The legal system’s built on statutes of limitation, which create a time frame during which any claim can be brought,” he says. “Once that door closes the risk of liability no longer exists. This reopens the door to the liability risk.” 

Read full article on Newsday’s website

CMM recently helped its long-standing Long Island-based client acquire a manufacturing business in Arizona. Our client has been eagerly expanding its business, and since starting to work with this client in 2019, CMM has successfully closed four acquisitions for the growing company.

In this deal, CMM’s team, consisting of Don Rassiger, Marc Saracino and Vincent Costa, helped to foster our client’s economic growth by creatively drafting and negotiating the transaction documents, including the use of the Seller’s Patents as collateral to backstop our client’s obligations to make the post-closing payments under the promissory note. 

This latest deal highlights CMM’s ability to support our manufacturing/industrial clients’ growth and expansion across the U.S., and demonstrates that CMM is the go-to firm for clients both selling and buying businesses. Learn more here about CMM’s M&A practice.

Deal Marks Softheon’s Expansion to Artificial Intelligence in Care Management for Health Plans

Campolo, Middleton & McCormick is pleased to have represented Softheon, a leading cloud-based eligibility, enrollment, and billing provider for health plans and government agencies, in its acquisition of NextHealth Technologies, an AI-powered SaaS-based healthcare analytics platform. With the acquisition, Softheon will be better able to help health plans sell and deliver efficient, high-quality care through synergies in the companies’ respective products and solutions.

Joe Campolo led the deal team, which included CMM’s Vincent Costa, Marc Saracino, and Katharine Campolo, as well as Alan Sasserath and George Batas of Sasserath & Co. CPAs.

View the full press release below or here.

Softheon Expands to Artificial Intelligence in Care Management for Health Plans through Acquisition of NextHealth Technologies

June 30, 2022

Softheon, a leading cloud-based eligibility, enrollment, and billing provider for health plans and government agencies, has acquired NextHealth Technologies, an AI-powered SaaS-based healthcare analytics platform. With the acquisition, Softheon will be better able to help health plans sell and deliver efficient, high-quality care through synergies in the companies’ respective products and solutions. Health plans can save tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars on medical and operational costs through Softheon’s growing suite of solutions.

The acquisition significantly enhances Softheon’s talent density, enhancing go-to-market strategies, engineering processes, and leadership. The overall speed and capability of NextHealth’s AI solutions will increase through Softheon’s propriety technology.

Softheon CEO, Eugene Sayan, will continue to lead the company. Eric Grossman, NextHealth’s founder, has become the combined organization’s Chief Commercial Officer, supporting Sayan’s vision and the company’s growth objectives.

Sayan shared, “Artificial Intelligence in healthcare is here, and we are seeing the incredible impact it can have on both members and carriers. Our goal has been to make healthcare more affordable, accessible, and plentiful, and we see AI as a clear path forward to bring efficiencies to our carrier partners. This acquisition is a testament to Softheon’s commitment to helping health plans tackle some of their biggest challenges, such as population health and the movement toward consumerism in healthcare.”

NextHealth Technologies, founded in 2013, offers a cloud-based platform that utilizes rigorous methodologies and standardized processes to enable health plan customers to identify impactable populations, measure which clinical initiatives work best for whom, and integrate data-driven decisions into the workflow in real-time to derive the highest ROI from their analytics investments.

“We are thrilled to be part of Softheon’s continued growth and expansion,” shared Grossman. “This is an incredible opportunity for our respective teams. NextHealth’s technical and service staff will continue to build and support cutting-edge applications of AI for carrier member populations with the support and resources of a larger company. We see a bright future for our health plan partners as we bring those tools to bear to deliver significant value and reduced costs.”

Softheon’s purchase of NextHealth is expected to bring economies of scale and operating leverage to the combined company. NextHealth investors, Norwest Venture Partners and TT Capital Partners, will become investors in Softheon and expressed excitement on the prospects of the transaction.

“Together, NextHealth and Softheon can provide better care at lower medical and administrative costs while advancing the application of AI in healthcare.” said Casper de Clercq, General Partner at Norwest Venture Partners.

“The acquisition of NextHealth will enhance Softheon’s AI capabilities for health plans,” said Ryan Engle, partner at TT Capital Partners, “Member data spanning shopping and enrollment through claims creates opportunities for proprietary methodologies to shape member behavior and create value for plans.”

Softheon has continued its growth and expansion, having completed more than 20 million enrollments since the inception of the Affordable Care Act, through public and private exchange technology. The acquisition comes after the company introduced its first foray into AI by creating a machine learning algorithm that predicts which members are at risk of letting their insurance coverage lapse, as featured in Bloomberg Law.

In New York, all employees owe a common law duty of loyalty to their employers, even if the employment is at-will and the employee has no employment agreement. The duty of loyalty requires employees to exercise the utmost good faith and loyalty in the performance of their duties and prohibits employees from acting in any manner that violates the trust an employer places in its employees. An employee who breaches the duty of loyalty to an employer can be liable under what is known as the “faithless servant” doctrine. If an employee is found liable under the faithless servant doctrine, an employer is able to recoup, among other things, all compensation paid to that employee during the period of disloyalty to the company. 

In a recent case that exemplified the faithless servant doctrine, CMM successfully represented its client, a family-owned Long Island business, that had a long-tenured employee of nearly 20 years who, unbeknownst to the client, was operating a competing business in secret for nearly five years. When the scheme was ultimately discovered, the employee was promptly terminated. During the period of disloyalty, the former employee stole the company’s customers and hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual business, used the company’s suppliers and vendors for his competing business, and deceived the owners of the company who had known him for nearly two decades, all while collecting a regular paycheck from the company. 

Shortly after the employee’s termination, CMM commenced a lawsuit against the former employee and his competing business, alleging claims for breach of the duty of loyalty (faithless servant) and other related claims. CMM’s Jeffrey Basso was able to strategically litigate the case to obtain necessary discovery to learn the extent of the damage caused by the former employee and position the case for mediation. At mediation, CMM was able to obtain a significant monetary settlement for the client, bringing this nightmarish saga for the client to a satisfying end. 

To learn more about our litigation practice and whether alternative dispute resolution is the right path for your business, please contact us.

Every M&A deal presents its own challenges, and a recent deal for our client – a certified WBE (women-owned business enterprise) corporation providing engineering, architecture, and land surveying services to NYS and NYC agencies – was no exception. The buyer in the multimillion-dollar deal was a New Jersey company that was looking to expand its service offerings in New York. In addition to the typical challenges that arise in every deal, this transaction was further complicated by the need to assign over 100 active work contracts from the seller to the buyer, all of which required obtaining consent from the public agencies. CMM’s team, led by Donald Rassiger with critical support from Zachary Mike and paralegal Katharine Campolo, was up to the task.

This transaction showcased CMM’s depth of knowledge in the M&A and construction space. The seller’s CFO commented after closing that working with the CMM team was a pleasure – the type of relationship that makes all the difference when buying or selling your largest asset. Learn more about our M&A and construction practices.

Successfully closing an investment deal can be a taxing endeavor as the process requires clarity of communication, transparency, and unwavering focus. Executing on this process in a transnational transaction is even more challenging. But as our client can attest, it’s possible with the right counsel, as our team just closed an €11 million investment for our client.

Through this investment, our client obtained a 10% equity interest in a Belgian company specializing in the development of axial flux motors for electric vehicles. CMM’s team – Donald Rassiger, Marc Saracino, and Zachary Mike – served as lead counsel, with support from one of CMM’s partner law firms in Belgium. This was a strategic investment for our client, as the development of the investment target’s products is critical to the client’s other investments across the globe. Further, by closing this investment, CMM helped not only our client but also provided support for the growth and development of the burgeoning electric vehicle industry.

This transaction highlights CMM’s ability to close significant multinational transactions and bridge the various legal, language, and cultural gaps that exist in cross-border transactions. CMM has supported our client in over $100 million in investments around the world over the past two years. This investment closing is one of many that exemplifies CMM’s ability to close challenging deals and help clients achieve their goals.

To learn more about how we can help you, please contact us.

Campolo, Middleton & McCormick is proud to announce that Senior Associate Richard DeMaio was recently sworn in as an Officer of the Suffolk County Bar Association’s Academy of Law. He was sworn in by the newly installed SCBA President Vincent J. Messina Jr. at the SCBA’s 114^th Annual Installation Dinner on June 1.

DeMaio has been extremely involved in the SCBA and has acted as an invaluable resource to the Academy of Law over the years. In addition to his new role as an Officer of the Academy, DeMaio also serves as a member of their Marketing Committee. Officers of the Academy serve four years on the board.

DeMaio is a litigation attorney that focuses on contract issues, business disputes, environmental matters, and municipal matters in state and federal court. His municipal work includes Article 78 proceedings, zoning/land use matters, and defending municipalities. He also focuses on commercial landlord-tenant cases and a variety of appeals. Richard works extensively on researching and drafting motions and appellate briefs in state and federal court. He has argued and won several appeals pertaining to land use/zoning, commercial, and general litigation.

We are pleased to congratulate DeMaio on his new role which will not only increase his involvement in the legal community but will also help the Suffolk Academy of Law build on their continuing legal education programs.