Walsh Pizzi O'Reilly Falanga LLP

NEWARK, NJ — This year, three attorneys with Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP were named to the 2018 Super Lawyers® Rising Stars® list in a special section to be published in April by Thompson Reuters in New Jersey Monthly Magazine.

Super Lawyers® is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.

Pictured: Sydney Darling, Selina Ellis and Chris Hemrick

The group of Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP attorneys listed in the Super Lawyers Rising Stars® list comprises Sydney Darling (Bankruptcy, Business Litigation, Creditor Debtor Rights, Real Estate), Selina M. Ellis (Business Litigation) and Christopher M. Hemrick (Bankruptcy, Business Litigation). Lawyers are asked to nominate the best attorneys who are 40 years of age or under, or who have been practicing for 10 years or less. Those surveyed are instructed to nominate lawyers whom they have personally observed in action — whether as opposing counsel or co-counsel, or through other firsthand courtroom observation.

The 2018 Super Lawyers® directory also includes Liza M. Walsh (Business Litigation, Intellectual Property Litigation, Class Action/Mass Torts), Peter Pizzi (Business Litigation, Employment & Labor, Intellectual Property Litigation), and M. Trevor Lyons (Employment and Labor).

For more information about Walsh, please contact Liza Walsh at (973) 757-1100 or lwalsh@walsh.law

This fall, Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP donated $100,000 to Seton Hall Law to create a Bar Prep Assistance Fund that will provide financial assistance to recent graduates during their bar examination preparation.

More information about this initiative is available here.

For more information, contact Liza M. Walsh at lwalsh@walsh.law or (973)757-1100.

On January 22, 2018, Hon. William J. Martini, U.S.D.J., declined to certify a prospective class of consumers who purchased Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice (“TPP”) holding that the Plaintiffs failed to allege that their purchasing decisions were influenced by TPP’s pasteurization claim. Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint, filed in 2012, alleges that TPP is flavored and colored in a way that violates the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s standard for pasteurized orange juice and therefore TPP should not hold itself out as “natural.” Plaintiffs’ proposed class consisted of consumers who purchased TPP.

In denying Plaintiff’s bid for class certification, Judge Martini further ruled that the Plaintiffs’ claims, specifically their common law and state law consumer protection/fraud claims, were “plainly unsuitable for class certification” because they require individualized proof. Moreover, Plaintiffs’ breach of express warranty claims failed to meet the Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 standard for class certification because certain Plaintiffs admitted that they had not read the TPP label or otherwise noticed the word “pasteurized” and indicated that they would purchase TPP again.

Walsh attorneys Liza Walsh, Christine Gannon and Joseph Linares, and co-counsel Daniel Nelson, Geoffrey Sigler, Lucas Townsend and Derek Kraft from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, represent Defendant Tropicana Products, Inc.

For additional coverage, please visit Law360.com.

At the recommendation of the District Court Judges in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Liza Walsh has been appointed by Chief Judge D. Brooks Smith to serve on the Lawyers Advisory Committee (LAC) of the Judicial Council of the Third Judicial Circuit.

The LAC comments on proposed rules of the Court and on certain Judicial Council matters, and serves as a liaison between the Court and the legal community. The mission of Third Circuit’s Lawyers Advisory Committee is to facilitate open communication between the Bench and the Bar.  The Committee supports the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in achieving, dispensing and administering justice in a fair, impartial, effective, and efficient manner.

For more information, please contact Liza M. Walsh at (973)757-1101 or lwalsh@walsh.law

Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP is excited to announce that Commissioner Richard J. Badolato, who previously lead the State of New Jersey’s Department of Banking and Insurance, has joined the firm. Mr. Badolato leads the newly created insurance practice which provides insurance and healthcare regulatory and enforcement advice and handles insurance coverage disputes and counseling as well as related defense work. Mr. Badolato also collaborates with the firm’s Financial Services & Risk Management practice, through which founding partner Stephen V. Falanga leads a team representing clients in the banking and financial services sector.

“After my tenure in public service as Commissioner, I am ready to return to private practice,” Mr. Badolato said. “I cannot think of a more exciting next step than joining the dynamic firm that Walsh has become.”

Before being named as Commissioner, Badolato was a partner in Connell Foley in Roseland for over 30 years, during that time accumulating numerous accolades for his civil litigation skills and bar leadership. Mr. Badolato’s more than five-decade experience spans trial and appellate work at all levels of the state and federal courts. In addition to his many other appointments, Badolato is the former president of the New Jersey State Bar Association, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, and the Essex County Bar Association.

Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP was formed a little more than a year and a half ago, in May 2016, when 18 attorneys came together to form a new majority women-owned law firm. “I hired and worked with Liza Walsh following her clerkship in the federal courts. When I was asked to join her new firm, I was delighted at the prospect of working with Liza and her other colleagues for whom I have tremendous respect, but more importantly truly like. These are all bright and hardworking attorneys of the highest caliber.” Badolato remarked.

Liza M. Walsh, Managing Partner of Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP, said, “We are all honored to have Rich join us. Having known Rich for many years, we are confident that he will serve as a tremendous asset to our insurance and banking sector clients and to all of our lawyers and staff.”

For more information, please contact Liza M. Walsh (973)757-1100 or lwalsh@walsh.law

Stephen Greenberg, counsel with Walsh, and Yves Herinckx, together facilitated the successful mediation of a massive European recovery effort arising out of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis and involving Fortis, a European entity which is now called Ageas. The case arises from Fortis’ participation in the 2007 acquisition of ABN Amro and a securities offering which made that acquisition possible. claims settled by Greenberg arise out of the securities offering.  Rights holders claimed that disclosure regarding ABM Amro’s subprime mortgage exposure was not adequately disclosed. The case was successfully resolved with Ageas expressly denying unlawful conduct on its part.

A website providing detailed information about the consolidated Ageas claims is located here.  The press release concerning the settlement is available here.

For more information about Stephen M. Greenberg’s domestic and international mediation practice and expertise, please contact him at (973)757-1100 or sgreenberg@walsh.law

The Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey (“HBA-NJ”) held its 38th Annual Installation and Swearing-In Ceremony of its Officers and Trustees at the Stone House at Stirling Ridge in Warren, New Jersey on November 9, 2017.  The Honorable Jose L. Linares, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, swore-in the officers and trustees.  Hector D. Ruiz was sworn-in as the HBA-NJ’s 38th President.  In addition, Joseph L. Linares was sworn in as a trustee.

For additional coverage, the New Jersey Law Journal article is available.

At the NJICLE Program, Employment Law and the First Amendment in 2018 and Beyond, scheduled for Tuesday, November 28, 2017, M. Trevor Lyons will join in a panel discussion about the intersection between individual rights of expression – protected rights relating to speech, politics, and religion –  and an employer’s right to regulate the work environment and control its own expressive message. In particular, Mr. Lyons will address how courts have traditionally balanced rights of free expression with the goal of eliminating discriminatory practices in the workplace, and how Courts are facing new challenges in this area of the law.

For more information, please contact Trevor at (973)757-1100 or mlyons@walsh.law