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CMM’s litigation prowess extended far beyond New York’s borders in a recent case filed in Arizona. 

CMM represented one of the defendants, a remote former consultant/independent contractor who sold his business to the plaintiff company. The company, headquartered in Arizona, commenced a lawsuit against our client and others in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona, alleging that our client and his business partner plotted to misappropriate the company’s confidential information, steal its property, and solicit and interfere with its customers and business relationships.

CMM’s team of Senior Partner Patrick McCormick and Associate Richard DeMaio strategically removed the action from Superior (state) Court in Arizona to Federal Court in the District of Arizona, and then moved to dismiss the action in its entirety based on lack of personal jurisdiction. The team argued that as an out-of-state resident and independent contractor, our client had no contacts with the state of Arizona that were sufficient to confer jurisdiction over him in Arizona. (For example, he did not own property in Arizona, never paid taxes there, and had visited only a handful of times for business meetings.)

Thanks to CMM’s hard work and strategic decision-making, the Court agreed, granting the motion to dismiss based on lack of personal jurisdiction.

CMM’s commercial litigation practice includes success at the state and federal level. Learn more about our litigation practice here.

CMM’s groundbreaking Economic Impact Study examining the potential economic impact of more inbound flights at Long Island MacArthur Airport was revealed at the HIA-LI “Future of Tourism” event on March 2. Demonstrating exponential growth potential, the study attracted enormous media attention and community support for Long Island’s hometown airport and tourism industry.

Spearheaded by Joe Campolo and his team at CMM in partnership with HIA-LI, Discover Long Island, the Town of Islip, and MacArthur Airport (“ISP”), the study is based on forecasts and assumptions regarding overall air travel capacity at ISP and general economic indicators in the Long Island tourism sector. A primary goal of the study was to demonstrate how critical both MacArthur Airport and tourism are to the Long Island economy. The staggering results are already mobilizing the business community to support the airport, Discover Long Island, travel and tourism.

Essentially, the study examined the potential economic and tourism impact if the airport increased its daily inbound flights. Using the standard metric that approximately 10% of MacArthur Airport deplanements are tourists, the study calculated the additional tourists that could be attracted to Long Island through more nonstop destinations and inbound flights. The study further calculated the spend of these tourists across the sectors of Food & Beverage, Transportation, Recreation, Retail & Service Stations, and Lodging using Long Island tourism data from the Tourism Economics database. Overall, the results show that the addition of more nonstop flights into ISP has the potential to generate unprecedented new revenue for Long Island, creating a win-win scenario to help Long Island thrive.

The Economic Impact Study follows closely on the heels of CMM and HIA-LI’s August 2021 survey that examined the current and future travel needs of the local business community. With over 500 businesses responding, the results of the survey were revealed in October 2021 and indicated that the addition of more nonstop flights from MacArthur could result in a 218 percent increase in travel dollars spent on flights at the airport – an unparalleled economic opportunity for the region. These results were instrumental in attracting Breeze Airways, the newest airline created by JetBlue founder David Neeleman, to MacArthur with its inaugural flight in February 2022.

CMM Senior Partner Scott Middleton successfully defended the Town of Smithtown in a recent slip and fall case, securing a unanimous verdict on behalf of the Town on the issue of liability. 

In 2015, the plaintiff was putting her grandchild on the school bus in the hamlet of Nesconset when she allegedly slipped and fell on an icy residential roadway. She sustained a fractured hip and femur that required pinning of the hip and placement of an intermedullary rod in the femur. In her lawsuit against the Town of Smithtown, the plaintiff claimed that the Town’s winter plowing efforts created the icy conditions that led to her accident.

After a four-day trial on the issue of liability, Middleton established that the Town was not liable in creating the condition that caused the accident, resulting in a unanimous defendant’s verdict, saving the Town from significant legal exposure.

CMM has a proven track record in defending Suffolk and Nassau County towns and villages. Visit our Municipal Liability page to read about more successful cases.

CMM represented Alure Home Improvements in its acquisition by Audax Private Equity. Led by Sal Ferro since 1998, Alure has been the preeminent full-service home remodeling company on Long Island for over 75 years and has 30,000 loyal customers. Audax Private Equity has been a leader in acquiring and scaling middle market companies for over 20 years.

CMM Partner Donald Rassiger and Senior Associate Vincent Costa led various aspects of CMM’s deal team to close the sophisticated transaction. The team worked with Protegrity Advisors, our client’s M&A advisor, to close the deal.

Learn more about our M&A practice here and contact us today.

Long Island’s East End real estate market is booming as sales volume increases with no signs of slowing down. Despite inventory hitting record lows, it seems that everyone wants a piece of the East End.

This is great news for our client, who owns a trucking and excavation company on the East End. The company provides demolition, land clearing, excavation, drainage, and sanitary system installation services and also specializes in all phases of site development. In addition to owning that business, our client was also a 50% partner in multiple LLCs that owned four East End commercial properties. CMM recently closed a transaction in which our client acquired his business partner’s membership in the LLCs, becoming the sole owner. Closing the deal required navigation of not just the myriad legal issues, but also the personal and emotional issues that often arise among business partners parting ways.

While “business divorce” is often challenging, CMM’s Donald Rassiger received these kind words from our client: “I can’t thank you enough for your help! It’s been a rocky road for sure, but the weight that’s been lifted was worth the wait. There are many people that are glad to finally be done with this chapter.”

With an office in Riverhead and a longtime presence on the East End, CMM represents East End clients ranging from towns and villages to small businesses in matters such as land use, municipal liability, and mergers & acquisitions.

Contact us today to learn more.