Walsh Pizzi O'Reilly Falanga LLP

On November 15, 2016, Walsh’s Joseph L. Linares will be featured as a panel member at the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey’s 7^th Annual Corporate Counsel Round Table at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ. Mr. Linares will present on E-Discovery and the New Federal Rules, focusing on practical considerations for in-house counsel when working with outside counsel on ESI collection and production.

In addition to its many initiatives, programs, and public advocacy activities, the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey (HBA-NJ) cooperates with other Hispanic bar organizations, with other Hispanic community, business, civic, charitable and cultural organizations, as well as with other legal organizations, in furtherance of the Association’s goal of representing New Jersey’s Hispanic legal community.  The HBA-NJ is also a regional affiliate of the Hispanic National Bar Association and is one of the preeminent bar associations in the State of New Jersey.

Mr. Linares is a Trustee at Large for the HBA-NJ and an experienced attorney. He concentrates his practice on litigation, handling disputes concerning contracts, intellectual property, employment, and torts, as well as corporate/business law and transactional work. In addition to servicing established corporate clients, he also provides counsel for non-profits, small businesses, and start-up ventures.  For more information, please contact Joe at (973) 757-1025 or jlinares@walsh.law.

Walsh is proud to announce that Hector D. Ruiz, a partner in the firm, was sworn-in as the President-Elect of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey (“HBA-NJ”) at its 37th Annual Installation Ceremony which was held on November 2, 2016, in Jersey City, New Jersey.  Hector will serve as President-Elect for the 2016-2017 term and he will assume the HBA-NJ’s Presidency for the upcoming 2017-2018 term.  Walsh attorney Joseph L. Linares was also sworn-in as Trustee at Large.

Mr. Ruiz concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation in federal and state courts and has substantial experience representing national and regional clients in commercial matters, including business torts, professional negligence, products liability and class action defense. He represents businesses across a wide spectrum of industries, such as pharmaceutical, healthcare, banking, construction, manufacturing, and information systems.

In addition to its many initiatives, programs, and public advocacy activities, the HBA-NJ cooperates with other Hispanic bar organizations, with other Hispanic community, business, civic, charitable and cultural organizations, as well as with other legal organizations, in furtherance of the Association’s goal of representing New Jersey’s Hispanic legal community.  The HBA-NJ is also a regional affiliate of the Hispanic National Bar Association and is one of the preeminent bar associations in the State of New Jersey.

For further information about Walsh’s Business & Commercial Litigation practice, please contact Hector Ruiz at (973) 757-1100 or at hruiz@walsh.law.

Walsh received the Tier 1 designation for Commercial Litigation and ERISA from the 2017 Best Lawyers® directory, released this month.  The publisher’s press release is available.  Liza M. Walsh received a listing in the 2017 Best Lawyers® directory for Commercial Litigation and ERISA; Tricia B. O’Reilly for Commercial Litigation; and Stephen V. Falanga for Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law.  We are honored by these awards.

NEWARK, NJ November 1, 2016 − A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today affirmed the dismissal of a Venezuelan surety’s complaint seeking $12 million from Walsh’s client, the former chief executive of GRAD Associates, P.A., a Newark architectural firm.  In 1999, GRAD partnered with an international construction company to build a prison in Venezuela and thereby entered into an agreement with the Venezuelan surety.  Though designed by GRAD, the prison was never constructed, and the surety allegedly paid $12 million to Venezuela on bonds issued against the project.  By the time of the surety’s 2014 lawsuit, GRAD, a victim of the global recession, had wound up its business. As a result, the surety instead sought judgment only against Walsh’s client, the officer of GRAD who signed the instrument in question, a retiree living in Brooklyn.

In Seguros Nuevo Mundo, S.A. v. Trousdale, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 19761, 16‐998‐cv (November 1, 2016), the Second Circuit applied well-established principles of New York law holding that a document binding upon a corporate party – in this case GRAD – may not be enforced personally against the signatory in the absence of “clear and explicit evidence” that the individual signer intended to make himself personally liable on the instrument.  Because such evidence was absent on the face of the instrument in question, the court found that the complaint against Walsh’s client was properly dismissed by Judge Rosalynn R. Mauskopf, U.S.D.J., on a pre-discovery motion to dismiss, and affirmed Judge Mauskopf’s ruling.

Peter J. Pizzi and Mariel L. Belanger represented the defendant on appeal.

For further information about the firm’s Business and Commercial Litigation practice, please contact Peter at (973) 757-1011 or ppizzi@walsh.law

Read the Full Decision Here.

In the October 2016 issue of New Jersey Business, Walsh was one of four firms profiled for “notable diversity initiatives and profiles.”  The article quotes extensively from founding partner Liza M. Walsh, who explained: “Support for women and minorities was hard-wired into our organization from inception.”

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

On Wednesday, September 21st, Walsh Pizzi clients, Pfizer, Inc., Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Bausch & Lomb, Inc., and Aton Pharma, Inc., along with others urged the Third Circuit not to revive the litigation accusing them of boosting prescription eye drop sales by using bottles that dispensed bigger-than-needed drops, contending that a lower court correctly found the patients didn’t show sufficient injury. The full article is available here.

For more information about the firm’s Class Action Defense practice, please contact Liza M.Walsh at (973)757-1101 or lwalsh@walsh.law

On September 9, 2016, Walsh’s Joseph L. Linares was named President-Elect of the Young Lawyers Division of the Hispanic National Bar Association at the organization’s Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois.  In his new post, Mr. Linares will oversee YLD groups within HNBA’s 19 Regions and also will hold a seat on HNBA’s Board of Governors.  Mr. Linares will be installed as President of the YLD in September 2017 at HNBA’s 42^nd Annual Convention in Kansas City, MO.  This past year, Mr. Linares served as a YLD Board Member and a member of the national organization’s Finance committee.

The Hispanic National Bar Association is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, national membership organization that represents the interests of Hispanic legal professionals in the United States and its territories.

Mr. Linares concentrates his practice on litigation, handling disputes concerning contracts, intellectual property, employment, and torts, as well as corporate/business law and transactional work. In addition to servicing established corporate clients, he also provides counsel for non-profits, small businesses, and start-up ventures.  For more information, please contact Joe at (973) 757-1025 or jlinares@walsh.law.

On September 14, 2016, the New Jersey Law Journal announced the 2016 Top Women in Law and named Walsh founder Liza M. Walsh to the list.  The full article is available.

The Law Journal met with Liza as part of her recognition. The interview is available.

On August 25, 2016, a sign was installed in the firm’s Newark office. Another milestone!

The New York Times on August 23, 2016, wrote an investigative piece about Governor Andrew Cuomo’s efforts to develop a high-tech film studio in upstate New York, focusing in part upon the involvement of Ryan R. Johnson in the project.  The article mentioned the lawsuit against Mr. Johnson filed by Walsh on behalf of a client who obtained at $1.3 million California judgment against Johnson arising out of a failed movie project.  The Times article is available here. 

For additional information about the firm’s Business & Commercial Litigation practice, please contact Peter J. Pizzi at (973) 757-1011 or ppizzi@walsh.law.