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Westbury, NY – Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP, a premier law firm, is pleased to announce the firm’s expansion with a new office in Westbury.  Opening March 1 to support CMM’s rapid growth and for the convenience of their extensive client base in Nassau County and New York City, the Westbury office is the firm’s third location (in addition to Ronkonkoma and Bridgehampton) and its first in Nassau County.

Centrally located at 1025 Old Country Road, the firm’s full-service Westbury office is close to Nassau County courts and government buildings in Mineola, as well as the bustling economic hubs that make Nassau County such a robust business community. The office is easily accessible by major highways and the Long Island Railroad and is home to several CMM attorneys and staff members, including CMM Partner Arthur Yermash.

CMM has enjoyed a rapid rise since its founding in 2008. Established with two partners in a small office, the firm now has a team of over 30 lawyers working out of three offices along the spine of Long Island. CMM has become the firm of choice for clients with respect to their most challenging legal issues, significant business transactions, and critical disputes. The firm is well known for its philanthropic efforts through its charitable arm, CMM Cares, as well as its attorneys’ dedication to moving the Long Island economy forward through involvement with HIA-LI, Stony Brook University, the Suffolk County Bar Association, and Touro Law School, among other organizations and institutions.

“We’re thrilled to make our expansion to Nassau County official,” said Managing Partner Joe Campolo. “We’re honored to serve our many existing clients in the area out of our convenient new space, and look forward to working with the local business community to continue to grow the Long Island economy. We’ve already received such a warm welcome, and we are eager to build exciting new business relationships in Nassau County!”

CMM recently demonstrated its agility and creative lawyering by resolving an impasse that others couldn’t, paving the way for a real estate deal to move forward.

Don Rassiger was brought in to take over the drafting and negotiation of the surety bond and environmental obligations on a transaction that included the acquisition of an environmentally sensitive real estate parcel subject to a remediation plan with the Environmental Protection Agency. In under 24 hours, Don resolved the impasse in the language with the EPA, the surety companies, and the seller. Our delighted client wrote, “Brilliantly executed! Thanks for the great turnaround. It will not be forgotten.”

CMM attorneys are adept at finding solutions where others have struggled or failed. Learn more about our Construction and Environmental work here.

First Amendment rights, social media, land use issues, and environmental concerns collided in Campolo, Middleton & McCormick’s latest litigation victory, spearheaded by attorneys Frederick Eisenbud and Richard DeMaio.

Our clients, an environmentally conscious couple, clashed with a developer who sought permission to construct a 176-unit condo project adjoining our clients’ property. Concerned about the condo project’s environmental impact, our clients (represented by other counsel) challenged the developer’s approvals by filing two Article 78 petitions (lawsuits to challenge the approvals), which ultimately were dismissed. They also maintained an active social media presence to keep the public informed about the project. In response, the developer sued them for slander, libel, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and malicious prosecution.

The couple hired an attorney to answer the lawsuit, then retained CMM for a second look. Eisenbud and DeMaio immediately recognized that many of the claims against our clients, while baseless, were also time-barred by the statute of limitations – but the prior attorney hadn’t raised this defense in the answer. CMM also counseled our clients that the developer’s lawsuit was a classic example of Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation – a SLAPP suit – designed to punish our clients for exercising their First Amendment rights and to deter others from opposing the project.

CMM moved for permission to file an amended answer that raised the statute of limitations defense as well as counterclaims against the developer pursuant to New York’s anti-SLAPP statute.  At the same time, we moved to dismiss all claims in the amended complaint against them as legally defective except those for slander which were not time-barred. As to those, we concurrently moved for summary judgment. In January, the Nassau County Supreme Court (Justice Roy S. Mahon) granted all of our motions and dismissed the entire complaint against our clients. Having succeeded in our efforts to get the entire complaint dismissed, the only causes of action remaining in the case are our clients’ counterclaims against the developer for damages for violating the clients’ First Amendment rights.

Learn more about our preeminent Environmental & Land Use practice here.

Campolo, Middleton & McCormick has successfully closed an asset purchase transaction in which we represented Canada-based Clairus Group in its first U.S.-based acquisition. Clairus Group, a fast-growing, vertically-integrated leader in automotive glass distribution, replacement, and claims management, acquired a majority stake in Ohio-based Advanced Auto Glass, a leading auto glass repair and replacement business, with an operational network comprised of nine in-bay locations, a fleet of 11 mobile service units, and a distribution warehouse serving Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. This was the first of several transactions that Clairus Group plans to pursue in the U.S. market. Based on the excellent results and hard work of the CMM team, including Corporate Department managing attorney Don Rassiger, the client has already engaged CMM to draft and negotiate another similar acquisition involving an independent auto glass repair and replacement business located in the northeastern U.S.

CMM’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice has closed billions of dollars’ worth of deals on the national and international stage over the past decade, and it continues to be one of the cornerstones of our practice.

In a deal that spanned numerous corporate and employment law issues – and even a brief stint in court – CMM successfully closed a stock purchase transaction that enabled a longtime Long Island manufacturing company to begin its next chapter.

Our client was a 50% owner of the company and had become engaged in an arduous battle over control of the company with his business partner. Unfortunately, without an effective Shareholders’ or Operating Agreement in place, long, drawn-out battles among formerly friendly business partners become all too common. As the years go by, many “what happens if” scenarios that were never addressed in good times catch up and become reality.

Hostile negotiations made it seem that this business divorce was destined for litigation (and did in fact include an appearance in the Suffolk County Commercial Division), but CMM continued to push for a more cost-effective solution. After several months of difficult negotiations, the parties agreed to a purchase price, including a long-term facility lease and a note. CMM Corporate Department managing attorney Don Rassiger negotiated the deal with assistance from Vincent Costa, who also worked on the documentation for the deal. Our client bought out his partners’ shares in the company and is now able to move the business forward. This critical step will allow the business to continue to grow and contribute to the Long Island economy.

Though business divorces are never easy, CMM attorneys are adept at untangling owners’ interests from businesses suffering a crisis. Learn more about our Corporate work here.

CMM has vast experience representing transportation providers in accident-related claims alleging personal injury and catastrophic loss. That experience recently led to the dismissal of all claims alleged in federal court against our clients, the out-of-state owners of a trucking/logistics company, in the firm’s latest litigation success story.

CMM represented Georgia residents in a personal injury action brought in federal court in New York by a plaintiff who resided in New York. The plaintiff was injured in a motor vehicle accident involving the defendants’ truck in the trailer yard of Bob’s Discount Furniture in Maryland. CMM Senior Partner Scott Middleton, assisted by litigator Richard DeMaio, moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. Essentially, CMM argued that the federal court in New York had no authority to hear a case against Georgia defendants regarding an accident that took place in Maryland; the plaintiff failed to allege that our out-of-state clients had any reasonable expectation that a trucking accident in Maryland would have consequences in New York.

While the plaintiff argued that his residence and medical treatment in New York should be enough to allow the suit to continue, the court was persuaded by CMM’s arguments, finding that there was no basis to exercise jurisdiction over our clients. In a victory for our clients, the court granted CMM’s motion to dismiss and closed the case.

CMM attorneys have decades of experience representing transportation providers including municipal bus lines, coach and school bus companies, fleet carriers, logistics companies, and limousine businesses. We have successfully defended clients insured by numerous major insurance companies across the country in virtually all areas of insurance coverage and defense. Learn more about our Liability Insurance & Insurance Coverage practice here.