In consolidated appeals taken by the New York Court of Appeals on certification from the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals, on July 1, 2014, New York's highest court ruled that the bankruptcy estates of defunct firms have no continuing property interest in "unfinished business" that their departing partners take with them to new firms. The decision, arising out of the Thelen LLP and Coudert Brothers LLP bankruptcies, put to rest the Trustees' multi-million dollar claims against those firms' former partners, and the former Coudert and Thelen partners' new firms, and settled previously unsettled New York law on the issue in favor of the former partners and their new firms. The District Courts in Thelen and Coudert had previously reached opposite conclusions on the issue, as have various courts around the country when faced with the same question. The decision is available online at https://www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/Decisions/2014/Jul14/136-137opn14-Decision.pdf.
Together with James Ulwick and Jean Lewis from Baltimore-based Kramon & Graham, MSF partner Jeffrey Schreiber, and associate Howard S. Davis, represented DLA Piper in the Coudert matter.
Attorneys Mentioned: Howard Davis, Jeffrey Schreiber
"Today, advanced planning must also encompass asset protection strategies. Most ultra-high-net worth individuals and families understand that their wealth makes them a target and many have personal experience in this area. This is driving greater demand for strategies that mitigate or eliminate potential liabilities and damages while weighing the possible financial, emotional and reputational costs of litigation," said Mitchell Schuster, a Partner at Meister Seelig & Fein LLP.
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Attorneys Mentioned: Mitchell Schuster
Third party court actions involving a party that is also subject to the arbitration process can be problematic and create significant complications and delays for the parties to the arbitration agreement, i.e., the need to respond in the third party action in court, while being required to assert rights against the other contracting party (under the indemnity provision or otherwise) in arbitration. This can result not only in having to participate in two separate arenas and jurisdictions to address the same matter (e.g., breach of representation), but also the possibility of ultimately producing inconsistent results. It is therefore worth considering a contractual "carve out" for third party actions when drafting your arbitration clause. The following arbitration clause provides an example of one approach taken by practitioner Sidney Bluming of Meister Seelig & Fein, LLP:
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Attorneys Mentioned: Sidney D. Bluming
Law360, New York (April 17, 2014, 7:08 PM ET) -- A Florida federal judge on Wednesday nixed a proposed class action accusing Rick's Cabaret International Inc. of failing to pay dancers proper minimum and overtime wages, granting the strip club owner's bid to compel arbitration despite a plaintiff's objection that arbitration would be too costly.
U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro ruled that the lawsuit should be dismissed and that Jaszmann Espinosa should pursue her claims in arbitration, though Espinosa claimed that the financial burden associated with arbitration would likely be prohibitively heavy.
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Seth H. Ostrow and Antonio Papageorgiou Join IP Group as Partners
New York, New York, March 1, 2014 -- Meister Seelig & Fein LLP announced today that Seth H. Ostrow and Antonio Papageorgiou have joined the Firm as Partners in its Intellectual Property Group.
Messrs. Ostrow and Papageorgiou were formerly Partners at New York-based patent boutique Ostrow Kaufman LLP. Joining them at the Firm will be George D. Zalepa and Kwok Lee, formerly an Associate and Patent Agent, respectively, at Ostrow Kaufman.
At Meister Seelig & Fein, Ostrow's and Papageorgiou's patent litigation and prosecution practices will continue to focus on software, telecommunications and networks, including Internet
technologies and financial systems. In addition, Mr. Ostrow will continue to leverage his recognized expertise in the areas of interactive television, electronic program guides and video distribution technologies.
The addition of a well-established patent practice will further bolster the Firm's growing Intellectual Property Group, which will now include seven Partners practicing in the fields of
patent litigation and prosecution; technology litigation, licensing and transfer; trademark and copyright litigation, prosecution and licensing; and all aspects of media and entertainment law.
"We are thrilled to have Seth and Antonio and their colleagues join Meister Seelig & Fein," said Firm co-founder and Managing Partner Mark Seelig. "Their patent experience and expertise are perfect complements to the Firm's existing IP practice, and will allow us to offer a full suite of technology and IP-related legal services to our clients across multiple industries."
"We have collaborated very successfully with Meister Seelig & Fein attorneys over the past several years," explained Mr. Ostrow. "During that time, we have seen first-hand how talented
and experienced their IP attorneys and litigators are, so we knew we wanted to be a part of the MSF team."
Founded in 1994, Meister Seelig & Fein is a commercial law firm comprised of more than 55 attorneys, with its headquarters in midtown Manhattan and offices in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. The firm provides a broad range of legal services to its clients in the areas of real estate, commercial litigation, corporate, employment, intellectual property, technology, entertainment, taxation, and trust and estate law.
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Attorneys Mentioned: Kwok W. Lee, Seth H. Ostrow, Antonio Papageorgiou, George D. Zalepa
New York, New York, January 9, 2014 -- Meister Seelig & Fein LLP announced today that Thomas M. Cassone has joined the Firm as Partner to lead the Firm’s expanded Stamford, Connecticut office, located at 600 Summer Street.
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MSF Partner Jeffrey Kimmel on a Fox Business Cavuto Panel, "Federal Judge Rules Exotic Dancers at NYC Nightclub Entitled to Min. Wage"
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Opponents to the plan to raise $1 billion for a REIT comprised of King Kong’s favorite building and 20 others claim their shares are each worth more than $300,000.
Stephen Meister, counsel to the opponents, said, "I think it’s coercive. If you hold something that’s worth $300,000 or $400,000 and someone said to you unless you vote yes to this plan, I’m going to confiscate your interest for $100, which way are you going to vote?"
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Attorneys Mentioned: Stephen B. Meister
Investors last year filed five class actions, or group lawsuits, accusing the company and Malkin of breaching their fiduciary duty. The trust announced a $55 million settlement of the cases in November.
Sherwood gave preliminary approval to the settlement in February and denied a motion by Andrew Penson, owner of Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal, and the other investors opposing the deal to intervene in the case.
Sherwood did allow them to argue their claim that the $100 buyout provision is illegal. A final hearing on the settlement is set for tomorrow.
Stephen Meister, an attorney for the opponents, said yesterday he would seek a stay of the proceedings. He declined to comment today on when that would be.
The Malkins said last month they would leave voting open until Sherwood rules on the $100-a-share buyout or until tomorrow’s hearing on the class-action settlement.
Opponents can avoid being bought out if they change their vote to "yes" within 10 days after receiving written notice that the 80 percent approval has been achieved, a time frame Meister called "impermissibly short."
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Attorneys Mentioned: Stephen B. Meister
New York, New York, December 10, 2012 – Stephen B. Meister, a partner at Meister Seelig & Fein LLP, was recently a featured speaker at the 2012 Real Estate Symposium sponsored by the Paul Milstein Center For Real Estate and the Real Estate Circle of Columbia Business School.
Meister, who divides his national practice into two major areas: high profile litigations which are frequently related to real estate, and large complex real estate transactions, spoke at a Symposium panel which focused on the topic of special servicing in the distressed real estate sector. The Symposium took place on December 4, 2012 at Faculty House at Columbia University.
The session which featured Meister -- entitled “Special Servicing – 360 Degrees” -- was moderated by Darrell Wheeler of Amherst Securities Group, and, in addition to Meister, included co-panelists Regina Lubin of CW Capital and Robert Lieber of Island Capital Group.
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Attorneys Mentioned: Stephen B. Meister
Rubin Isak, CEO & co-founder of Falco Isak Realty Services, an investment sales firm, has sold a bulk package of 138 unsold sponsor units for $17.821 million ($10.863 million in cash and assumption of the underlying mortgage of $6.958 million.).
...The sellers, 38 Astoria Owners Corp., were a partnership that converted these buildings to a cooperative in 1989 and have owned and managed the buildings since then. The buyers of the block are private area investors. The sellers' attorney was Mark Mandell, Esq. with Mandell, Mandell, Okin & Edelman, LLP and the purchasers' attorney was Matthew Kasindorf, Esq. with Meister Seelig & Fein LLP.
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Attorneys Mentioned: Matthew E. Kasindorf
Billionaire BetFox Business News - Money with Melissa Francis, November 08, 2012 MSF Partner Stephen Meister on Fox Business' Money with Melissa Francis to discuss Warren Buffett's latest real estate investment.
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Attorneys Mentioned: Stephen B. Meister
A federal judge on Thursday ruled that Facebook messages exchanged between nonparty exotic dancers and a member of a putative class of dancers suing the Penthouse Executive Club in New York for employment violations are not protected communications and must be produced for the suit.
U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood in New York held that the Facebook messages traded between a member of the proposed class and other nonparty dancers talking about joining the suit, are not protected by attorneyclient privilege.
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Attorneys Mentioned: Racquel Crespi Weintraub, Howard Davis
Fans of rent control cheered yesterday when the Supreme Court declined to take up a case challenging New York’s rent-stabilization laws. Yet killing the rent laws would be the best way to get us back to broadly affordable housing.
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Attorneys Mentioned: Stephen B. Meister
When Governor Chris Christie signed the New Jersey Trade Secrets Act into law last month, New Jersey became the 46th state to afford statutory protection to trade secrets, thereby providing trade secret owners in New Jersey with an important new tool to protect their rights.
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Attorneys Mentioned: Jeffrey Schreiber, Jeffrey Weingart
Citigroup Inc was sued for fraud by Loreley Financing over nearly $1 billion worth of collateralized debt obligations purchased in 2006 and 2007.
Citigroup is accused of defrauding Loreley into purchasing "fraudulent investments that are now worthless," Loreley said in a complaint filed Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Citi used the CDOs to offload the risks of toxic mortgage-backed securities on its books and to help preferred clients "short" the housing market, the lawsuit claims.
...For Loreley: Marc Kasowitz and Sheron Korpus of Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, James Ringer of Meister Seelig & Fein and Stephen Plotnick of Carter Ledyard & Milburn.
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Attorneys Mentioned: James M. Ringer
New York, NY – January 10, 2012 -- Meister Seelig & Fein LLP today announced that Bob Goldberg has joined the firm to head its Taxation and Employee Benefits Group.
Bob Goldberg, formerly counsel to Farrell Fritz, P.C., joins Meister Seelig as a partner in the firm's Corporate Group. He has experience in a broad variety of federal and local tax matters, and has particular experience in federal income tax issues related to partnerships, limited liability companies, real estate, transactional tax planning and tax-exempt organizations. Mr. Goldberg further specializes in employee benefits and executive compensation and represents clients on a range of compensation and benefits matters, including executive compensation, the compensation and benefits aspects of merger and acquisition transactions, employment and separation agreements, retirement plan terminations, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's (ERISA) fiduciary duty and prohibited transaction rules, and benefit plan controversies.
"We are excited to have Bob Goldberg join the firm in order to better serve our clients in the areas of taxation and employee benefits," said Mark Seelig, the firm's managing partner. "Our clients at all levels need tax-related advice, and Bob's experience and expertise cuts across each of the firm's practice areas. He will be an asset to the firm, as well as to our clients."
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Attorneys Mentioned: Bob G. Goldberg, Mark J. Seelig
Friedman-Roth Realty Services LLC has completed the $15.784 million, off-market sale of a 65 Bank St. The Greenwich Village apartment building, is located between West 4th St. and Bleecker St. The 50-ft. wide, six-story, walk-up building features 35 residential units and a commercial office space and contains 25,614 s/f....
The purchaser was represented by Matthew Kasindorf of Meister Seelig & Fein LLP and the seller was represented by Yaron Kornblum of Rivkin Radler LLP.
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Attorneys Mentioned: Matthew E. Kasindorf
An Alexandria federal jury returned a verdict on Oct. 27, 2011 of $96,400,000 in favor of Honua Investment Management, Inc. and its bondholders who were defrauded by Man Ki Kim, a McLean businessman. The case was tried over a period of four days by James Ringer of New York and Daniel L. Fitch of Harrisonburg. The verdict is the fifth largest ever returned in Virginia and the biggest in the commonwealth since 2002.
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Attorneys Mentioned: James M. Ringer, James M. Ringer
The verdict included $48.2 million in compensatory damages and $48.2 million in punitive damages. The punitive award is subject to Virginia's $350,000 cap, reported one of the lawyers for the bondholders.
New York's Jim Ringer, lead counsel for the bondholders, said it appeared Kim was trying to keep his deals alive by borrowing from one entity to fund another.
"There are a lot of people who think if you keep the ball in the air long enough you can succeed," Ringer said. "Sooner or later the ball comes down."
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Attorneys Mentioned: James M. Ringer
Meister Seelig & Fein LLP today
announced that it has added two attorneys to its growing Intellectual Property
Group.
Jeffrey Greenberg, formerly a partner in a leading New York City-based entertainment law firm, joins Meister Seelig as a partner in the firm's IP Group. His arrival further bolsters a growing cadre of lawyers in the group with broad entertainment and media-related experience.
... The firm also added Rowena DeLeon as an associate in the IP Group. With more than a decade of trademark prosecution and licensing experience, Ms. DeLeon will further strengthen the firm's ability to prosecute and manage large, international trademark portfolios.
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Attorneys Mentioned: Jeffrey A. Greenberg
Stamford, CT, June 2, 2011 -- A reception was held Wednesday evening to celebrate the opening of commercial law firm Meister, Seelig & Fein's Stamford, Connecticut office. Governor Dannel P. Malloy joined the celebration as the firm's honored guest.
"This is a perfect time to expand into Connecticut. Local businesses are growing stronger as the state focuses on revitalizing the economy, and the opportunity to provide high quality legal support to businesses in Connecticut continues to grow" Commented Governor Malloy.
"We are excited that Governor Malloy could come out tonight to help us celebrate the opening of our new office in Stamford. We see a great deal of opportunity in Connecticut and really appreciate the Governor's support," said Meister, Seelig & Fein Managing Partner Mark Seelig. "With our entry into Connecticut we look forward to being more accessible to Connecticut-based clients and building additional relationships within the community."
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Attorneys Mentioned: Mark J. Seelig
Meister Seelig & Fein LLP looks forward to sponsoring and participating in IMN's 12th Annual US Real Estate Opportunity & Private Fund Investing Forum at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers!
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Attorneys Mentioned: Matthew E. Kasindorf, Stephen B. Meister