Happy early Holidays! 2023 has been an incredible blur; both professionally and personally. As we approach the end of the calendar year, we look back warmly on the indelible impact our litigation practice has had on the lives of those who have entrusted their most important matters to us. It remains a privilege, year in and year out, to continue to work on such an interesting and diverse mix of cases. Enjoy the Holidays, and thanks, as always, for being part of our extended family.
Your Friends and Colleagues,
Denlea & Carton, LLP
2023 was a watershed year for our Class Action practice. We prosecuted cases against a variety of consumer goods, nutraceutical companies, and supplement manufacturers. These cases included, among others, claims against: the sleep aid supplement Relaxium, the SlimFast line of meal replacement products, LIV Group’s hydration product Liquid IV, oxygen supplement Total Boost, cognition and memory supplement Focus Factor, the deodorant company Lume, and the hair loss product Nutrafol. The common denominator to each of these prosecutions has been our unwavering commitment to protecting consumers’ rights and to ensuring a marketplace free of unfair and deceptive advertising.
Our Entertainment and Media litigation practice also had a banner year. We continued our representation of the national governing bodies for the sports of tennis and equestrian, the United States Tennis Association and the United States Equestrian Federation, respectively; represented multiple executives in their employment separations from MLB Network, CBS, CNN and NBC, prosecuted the claims of a record company executive’s widow to the music catalogue (and its associated rights) of her late husband, and represented an angel investor in a music management company whose artists include a Grammy award winning singer/songwriter.
2023 again recognized the collective efforts of the Firm, as well as the individual talents of our lawyers. The Firm was recognized by Best Lawyers in America, while the same peer ratings agency also honored Jeff as one of the Best Lawyers in America for his Commercial Litigation practice. Super Lawyers selected Jim, Jeff, Craig, Steve, John and Stan to its New York slate of outstanding lawyers, and Jeff was named to the Top 25 Super Lawyers list in Westchester County. Jim and Jeff were also named to Elite Lawyers of America, as well as to the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
2023 has been full of TROs, preliminary injunctions, arbitration demands, and numerous court appearances. The year began with a TRO and preliminary injunction proceeding filed on behalf of a popular restaurant group against a franchisee who was unlawfully using the Group’s trademarks and know-how. That proceeding foreshadowed a subsequent TRO application we filed later in the year to restrain a lender from seeking to move a priceless Alexander Calder sculpture from the art gallery at which it is currently on consignment. In between, we represented countless limited partners, closely held shareholders, and other business owners in their commercial disputes. Among other matters, we filed a demand for arbitration seeking to enforce a non-solicitation obligation upon a former employee, and mediated a long-running feud between two business owners.
No project remains as important to us as our continued commitment to Injured 914. Taking our collective 150+ years of experience, and applying it to help the victims of others’ negligence recover for their economic losses, medical costs and pain and suffering remains one of the greatest privileges we enjoy. Our unique, aggressive style of advocacy has allowed us to recover tens of millions of dollars for those catastrophically injured. This past year we resolved, among other claims, those arising from: a surgical amputation of the leg due to home healthcare malpractice, a fractured hip arising from a slip and fall on defectively designed stairs in a municipal building, and multiple fractures sustained in a trip and fall caused by a dangerous condition in a public parking lot. Please visit our injury website below.
For all of the professional accolades we receive in any given calendar year, nothing compares to the family milestones we celebrate with one another. 2023 was an extraordinary year in that regard. Linda and Jeff both celebrated their daughters’ engagements (2024 weddings look out!), Stan welcomed the birth of his son, Craig celebrated his daughter’s bat mitzvah, and Debby learned she will soon be welcoming her second (and third) grandchildren. These are the “accomplishments” we most enjoy celebrating.
The Firm is pleased to have made several significant contributions to important charitable initiatives this year, including:
White Plains Police Benevolent Fund: Supporting the dedicated police officers who protect our White Plains community.
Westchester Corporate Cup 5K Race: All proceeds go to the HOPE Community Services, a New Rochelle-based organization, which has become the largest emergency food pantry and soup kitchen in the region.
Pan-Mass Challenge: Supporting the innovative work of doctors, nurses, and scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and their search for cures for cancers and related diseases.
Uniform Firefighters Association Local 107: Supporting our brave firefighters and first responders in White Plains.
Our loyal paralegal and mascot:
Ellie
Kudos to 6 of our lawyers, James Denlea, Jeff Carton, Craig Cepler, John Leifert, Steven Schoenfeld and Stanislav Sharovskiy, having been named to the 2023 New York Metro Super Lawyers list. In addition, our co-founder Jeff Carton has been selected as one of the Top 25 Westchester County Super Lawyers. Congrats to all!
Jeff was selected by his peers for recognition of his professional excellence in the 30th edition of The Best Lawyers in America for his work in the field of Commercial Litigation. Congrats Jeff !
We’re thrilled to announce that 6 of our lawyers Craig Cepler, Jeff Carton, James Denlea, John Leifert, Steven Schoenfeld, and Amber Trumbull Wallace have been named to the 2022 New York Metro Super Lawyers list. In addition, our co-founder Jeff Carton has been selected as one of the Top 25 Westchester County Super Lawyers. Congrats to all!
As we approach the final quarter of 2022 (and prepare to celebrate our 10th anniversary in December) we are honored to be having our most successful year yet. We remain privileged to work on interesting, sophisticated matters, and have returned (post-COVID) to the Courtroom where our advocacy is most valued. But none of these accomplishments would be possible without the incredible and tireless efforts of our team, or the unflinching trust our clients continue to repose in us to fight their most important challenges. Here’s a snapshot of the past 5 months, and a look ahead to the rest of 2022 . . .
Your Friends and Colleagues,
Denlea & Carton, LLP
The Firm is pleased to have recovered $2,250,000 for a client who was injured when the Bee-Line bus in which he was a passenger was violently struck by a cement truck. The settlement was reached in the middle of trial, when the defendant and its insurers realized how strongly our case was resonating with the jury. The primary and excess insurers more than doubled their pre-trial offer, rather than let the case go to the jury. Our co-founder, Jim Denlea, deftly handled the trial, including a multi-media presentation to the jury. This is a terrific result, and a strong illustration of the Firm’s commitment to the victims of personal injury. Our client found our Firm through our website Denlea & Carton.Com, where increasing numbers of injured parties are becoming acquainted with our work. Great result Jim, John and Stan!
The United States Tennis Association rebuffed a proposed class action, filed in federal court in Manhattan, alleging its website violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The plaintiff voluntarily dismissed all claims. “No settlement of any kind was reached,” counsel for the USTA, Jeff Carton with Denlea & Carton LLP, told Bloomberg Law. The plaintiff “dismissed his complaint with prejudice immediately following the filing of our motion to dismiss,” he said.
USTA said plaintiff unleashed ‘tsunami of meritless litigation’ Complaint alleged failure to accommodate visually impaired The US Tennis Association will shake off a proposed class action filed in federal court in Manhattan alleging its website…
Jeff was selected by his peers for recognition of his professional excellence in the 29th edition of The Best Lawyers in America for his work in the field of Commercial Litigation. Congrats Jeff !
The firm is representing Yankee third baseman Josh Donaldson in a federal court proceeding in Connecticut, arising out of Mr. Donaldson’s lease of a house in Greenwich. According to the Complaint, the house had a rampant mold infestation, which was not disclosed to Mr. Donaldson and which rendered the house uninhabitable.
Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson, while playing in the house that Ruth built, was living in a house of horrors, according to a lawsuit filed Friday. Donaldson, in a nine-page complaint filed in Connecticut Federal Court, alleges the…
We are pleased to announce that Stan Sharovskiy, an experienced commercial litigator, has joined the Firm. Stan has represented clients in a wide variety of legal matters including complex business disputes, trade secret litigation, and claims arising from the enforcement of post-employment covenants. Stan is a graduate of the Hofstra University School of Law, with a BA in English Literature and Criticism from Hunter College. In his spare time, Stan enjoys literary fiction, creative writing, classical history, and is an avid chess enthusiast. He and his wife are expecting their first child in January.
Uber and other black car passengers who were wrongly charged a 2.5% surcharge on their non-cash gratuities are one step closer to the finish line. Judge Halpern granted the Black Car Fund’s request for permission to take an interlocutory appeal to the Second Circuit of the District Court’s decision awarding the certified class of passengers summary judgment. If the favorable decision we obtained at the District Court level is affirmed on appeal, a damages award of roughly $8.4 million dollars will be distributed to Class Members.
A New York injury compensation fund can pursue an immediate Second Circuit appeal of a district court’s finding that it improperly collected a 2.5% surcharge on noncash tips to black car and for-hire drivers in the Empire State, according to a…
The Firm is pleased to have made several significant contributions to important charitable initiatives this past summer, including:
Westchester Corporate Cup 5K Race: All proceeds go to the HOPE Community Services, a New Rochelle-based organization, which has become the largest emergency food pantry and soup kitchen in the region.
Pan-Mass Challenge: which supports the innovative work of doctors, nurses, and scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and their search for cures for cancers and related diseases.
Uniform Firefighters Association Local 107: Supporting our brave firefighters and first responders in White Plains.
