News (All)

HIA-LI Board Member Joe Campolo moderated the 44^th HIA-LI Annual Meeting and Legislative Program held virtually on January 14, 2022. Joe reported on the tremendous work of the business community, elected officials, and HIA-LI to push Long Island forward as we enter the third calendar year of the pandemic. The event began with opening remarks by Acting Commissioner and President and CEO Designate of Empire State Development Hope Knight and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. Joe then led a discussion with elected officials about building back our economy and other issues most affecting the business community. Panelists included New York State Senator Mario Mattera, State Assemblyman Mike Fitzpatrick, Town of Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim, and Town of Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter.

Fed up with flooding on their land during rainstorms, Suffolk County property owners filed suit against the owners and developers of the neighboring golf club, whose water drainage system they alleged was causing the flooding. They also named various Town defendants in their lawsuit, including the Highway Department, the Planning Department, and the Town itself, for their roles in approving the allegedly faulty drainage system. With holes in the plaintiffs’ case immediately apparent to the CMM Municipal Liability team, we got to work.

CMM’s team, led by Senior Partner and Municipal Liability Chair Scott Middleton and Associate  Richard DeMaio, with support from Paralegal Dominique Berberich, moved for summary judgment (essentially, a request that the Court dismiss the case because there are no facts at issue). CMM successfully presented evidence and testimony from a Town consulting engineer that the drainage plan met the standards of the Town Code. Furthermore, the team demonstrated that the plaintiffs did not timely file notices of claim (required to be filed prior to bringing a lawsuit against a municipal entity in New York) for each instance of flooding, nor did the plaintiffs allege any specific date to identify when the flooding occurred.  

Thanks to CMM’s hard work, the Court granted the Town’s motion for dismissal of the complaint. Learn more about our municipal liability practice group here.  

What a way to end the year – CMM’s mergers & acquisitions team finished 2021 with a bang, closing a newsworthy transaction involving multiple companies, shareholders, and sales.

Our client, Creative Bath Products Inc., is a Long Island manufacturer whose products are sold through major retailers such as Amazon, Target, Costco, and Walmart. The company has existed for over 40 years and attributes their success to its commitment to designing and manufacturing beautiful functional housewares and products that capture the consumer’s attention and engagement. The company’s manufacturing arm, M & M Molding Corporation, is a plastic fabrication company that shares a location with our client in Central Islip. The business assets of the sister companies were acquired by Delaware-based Creative Products, LLC. The sale of the business assets combined with the sale of the business property resulted in a multimillion-dollar transaction.

With CMM Senior Partner Patrick McCormick having previously represented the company in litigation matters, it was a natural fit for CMM’s corporate team to handle the M&A aspects. Senior Partner and Corporate department chair Christine Malafi led the property and business sale with the help of Paralegal Katharine Campolo. Legal Assistant Cailey McByrne and Senior Associate Vinny Costa also dedicated time and hard work to help close the deal.

2021 has been a busy year for CMM’s M&A team. Having represented sellers in a variety of industries including the arts, aerospace, construction, real estate, and technology, the sale of Creative Bath Products Inc. is another notch in the team’s manufacturing experience belt. Please contact us for your next merger or acquisition.

CMM is pleased to announce that Senior Partners Scott Middleton and Christine Malafi have been named to the Judicial Screening Committee of the Suffolk County Bar Association (SCBA). The Committee is tasked with investigating the background, experience, and other qualifications of candidates seeking to run for judicial office in Suffolk County to ensure that potential nominees are qualified to serve on the bench. The Committee consists of 25 active members of the SCBA of recognized standing, judgment and independence, and serve for a term of three years or until their successor is appointed.

Middleton previously served on the Committee and was reappointed this year. He chairs the Municipal Liability and Personal Injury practice groups at CMM. He handles all types of litigation, representing individuals and defending large and small businesses and municipalities in a wide array of matters including transportation, personal injury, premises liability, labor law (construction accidents and employment issues), civil rights, wrongful death, road design, and general litigation. Middleton serves on the Board of Directors of East End Arts as President in addition to his membership on the Stony Brook University Intercollegiate Athletic Board.

Malafi joins the Committee this year in addition to her work chairing the Corporate department at CMM. Her practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and routine and complex transactions. She routinely represents buyers and sellers in multimillion-dollar transactions and serves in a general counsel role for many of the firm’s corporate clients. In addition to her legal work, Malafi serves on the Executive Board of Directors of Family Service League as the Vice-Chair of Governance & Nominating. She also sits on the Board of Governors of Touro Law School.

All members of the Judicial Screening Committee are appointed by the President of the SCBA, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors. Committee members are attorneys who have achieved distinction and experience in the practice of law. Middleton and Malafi’s roles on the Committee demonstrate their outstanding service to the public as well as their continued pledge to faithfully serve the Suffolk County legal community.

It’s true that “teamwork makes the dream work,” especially when it comes to closing complex legal matters that require everyone on the team to pitch in one or way or another – either through work on the deal itself or picking up other work to keep other deals moving. In CMM’s latest success story, our corporate team did just that.

Our clients were the owners of an online bookkeeping service that has provided reliable and efficient bookkeeping services to organizations for over a decade. Servicing organizations nationwide, the company offers seamless solutions and support services for clients. In the multi-million-dollar deal, our clients sold their business to a leading software company that also provides solutions for groups and organizations through a technology-centered approach.

Senior Partner and corporate department chair Christine Malafi led CMM’s deal team, with support from Paralegal Katharine Campolo, and Touro Law School extern Julia Buli. Despite complications that resulted in last-minute restructuring of the transaction, CMM’s team was able to pull through to the finish line where our happy clients were waiting. The deal involved multiple LLCs organized in several jurisdictions, requiring collaboration with accounting professionals on the many tax implications of the transaction.

The deal highlights CMM’s dynamic M&A team and the confidence that clients have in our ability to take on complicated transactions and navigate the twists and turns that come along. Contact us for your next merger or acquisition.

Recent HIA-LI Survey Spearheaded by Campolo Highlights Exponential Revenue Potential of Long Island’s Hometown Airport

CMM’s Joe Campolo was on hand at a December 6 press conference announcing Breeze Airways’ new home at Long Island MacArthur Airport. Starting in February 2022, the airline – founded by David Neeleman (who previously cofounded multiple airlines including JetBlue) – will offer nonstop flights to Norfolk, Virginia and Charleston, South Carolina. Touting Breeze as the “Seriously Nice™” airline that “gets you there twice as fast at half the price,” Neeleman described Breeze as “a technology company that happens to fly planes.” The fact that the tech-savvy airline chose MacArthur as its first New York airport is a testament to the power and support of the Long Island business community.

This support was on full display this past summer in the robust response from the business community to HIA-LI’s Long Island MacArthur Airport Survey, spearheaded by Campolo and his team at CMM. For many years, the business community has lamented the lack of direct flight destination options from MacArthur Airport. To that end, the goal of the HIA-LI survey was to showcase support for the airport and help attract new airlines, paving the way for new travel options for Long Islanders.

The survey results are staggering, displaying the potential untapped revenue that more nonstop destinations could bring to MacArthur and the region. After providing their annual business travel budgets, respondents of the survey said that the addition of more nonstop flights would increase their overall travel spend at MacArthur from 36.2% to 78.8%. The survey also found that when taken together, Nassau and Suffolk Counties hold the potential to generate as much as $1.1 billion in revenue for the airport.

The survey stemmed from Joe Campolo’s involvement with the MacArthur Airport Advisory Board, to which he was invited by Town of Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter after his work on the HIA-LI’s Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge (LI-IPH) Task Force caught her attention. Recognizing the Innovation Park as Long Island’s hidden economic gem, Campolo has successfully led efforts to quantify the economic impact of the LI-IPH and magnify the LI-IPH’s role in Long Island economic development, putting the LI-IPH on the map for future development projects.

“The addition of Breeze Airways at MacArthur Airport provides a tremendous advantage for regional development and is such a win for the business community,” said President & CEO of HIA-LI, Terri Alessi-Miceli. “HIA-LI is proud to support initiatives like the LI-IPH Task Force and the airport survey to help business survive and thrive now and in the future.” “MacArthur Airport is a critical asset to the Long Island business community. When the data from the survey started pouring in, it was clear that the business community strongly supports the airport while recognizing the need for more nonstop travel destinations,” said Campolo. “Now, the addition of Breeze Airways at MacArthur Airport will open up more possibilities for the Long Island region and opportunities for further economic advancement.”