Walsh Pizzi O'Reilly Falanga LLP

The Spring Business Edition of Best Lawyers announced the “2017 Women of Influence” and named founding partners, Liza M. Walsh and Tricia B. O’Reilly to the list for Commercial Litigation, ERISA and Intellectual Property Law in New Jersey.

April 6, 2017 6:00 pm
Photo taken by Walsh’s Selina Ellis

In a decision announced on March 28, 2017, in Cevdet Aksüt Oğullari Koll. Sti v. Cavusoglu, Civ. No. 2:14-3362 (DNJ), the Hon. William J. Martini, U.S.D.J. applied the United States Supreme Court’s precedent in RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Cmty., 136 S. Ct. 2090 (2016) to dismiss the plaintiff’s RICO claims.  In RJR, the Supreme Court held that a private RICO plaintiff must allege and prove a domestic injury to its business or property in order for the claim to be viable under the federal racketeering or “RICO” statute.  Following RJR, and applying the reasoning of the majority of district courts that have since addressed the issue of “domestic injury,” Judge Martini dismissed the plaintiff’s RICO claims, finding that the Turkish exporter, with no business presence in the United States, could not allege a domestic injury based upon the allegations set forth in its Verified Complaint.  Peter J. Pizzi, Marc D. Haefner, Christopher J. Hemrick, and Mariel Belanger represented the successful movants before Judge Martini.

For more information regarding Walsh’s experience in RICO litigation, please contact Marc Haefner at (973) 757-1100 or mhaefner@walsh.law.

Law.com cited the founding of Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP in a March 27, 2017 article entitled “Law Firm Spinoffs an Option as Lawyers Look To Go Lean.”   The article is available here.

The New Jersey Law Journal, an affiliate of Law.com, ran a similar article which is available here.

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

On March 10, 2017, Hon. Katherine Polk Failla, a district court judge in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, granted the joint motion to dismiss filed by the corporate defendant Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (“ADS”), and three officer/director defendants, in a purported class action alleging violations of the federal securities laws.  Ruling in favor of the defendants, Judge Failla wrote: “There is no shortage of statements identified in the Complaint as to which Plaintiff cries fraud. There is, however, a noticeable shortage of well-pleaded allegations of scienter, and likely also loss causation.” Selina M. Ellis worked as part of a team of defense lawyers in preparing the successful moving and reply briefs.

The full opinion is available here. For further information about the firm’s Business & Commercial Litigation practice, please contact Peter J. Pizzi or Selina M. Ellis at (973) 757-1100.

Stephen Falanga, chair of Walsh’s Financial Services & Risk Management group, presented at the NJSBA’s 19^th Annual William H. Gindin Bankruptcy Bench-Bar Conference on March 10, 2017.  Falanga participated on a panel discussing the joint administration and substantive consolidation of debtor entities in bankruptcy.  In addition to having experience with post-petition substantive consolidation issues, Walsh attorneys also prepare pre-bankruptcy opinions on a lender’s risk that its borrower would be substantively consolidated with related entities in the event of a bankruptcy filing.

For further information concerning Walsh’s Bankruptcy practice, please contact Stephen V. Falanga at (973)757-1107.

On February 21, 2017, Hon. Stanley R. Chesler granted Walsh’s motion to dismiss claims against client Vistage Worldwide, which was joined as a third-party defendant in a dispute between two individuals who allegedly arrived at a business deal after having first met at a Vistage-sponsored CEO roundtable.  Vistage offers executive coaching through roundtable CEO groups and other services.  A team comprised of Liza M. Walsh, Peter J. Pizzi, and Mariel L. Belanger represented Vistage in the case.

The opinion is available here.  For further information, please contact Liza or Peter at (973) 757-1100.

On January 13, 2017, Walsh attorneys Christopher M. Hemrick and Sydney J. Darling were elevated to the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, a global not-for-profit organization comprised of professionals in the turnaround industry. Mr. Hemrick is also co-chair of the Chapter’s NextGen Committee, and Ms. Darling is co-chair of the Chapter’s Network of Women. Both attorneys practice primarily in the Firm’s Banking and Financial Services group and are experienced advocates on behalf of all types of stakeholders in distressed situations.