Rudolph M. Baptiste Joins K&C
KCLLP is pleased to announce Rudolph M. Baptiste, Esq. to the firm. Mr. Baptiste is an experienced litigator, who prior to joining the firm served as the Senior Principal Law Clerk to a Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department. He also served for several years as Principal Law Clerk to a Justice of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County. Prior to his judicial clerkships, Rudy was an Assistant County Attorney in the General & Federal Litigation Bureau of the Suffolk County Attorney’s Office where he handled a diverse caseload. KCLLP is pleased to have Rudy join the firm as a Senior Associate.
Jessica Guzzo Joins K&C
KCLLP announces Jessica Guzzo, Esq. to the firm. Ms. Guzzo is a recent graduate of William & Mary Law School, who has joined KCLLP as a junior associate. Jessica will be working on a variety of civil litigations involving design and construction claims as well as commercial disputes. We are excited for Jessica to join the KCLLP team.
K&C New York Office Relocation
We are excited to announce that K&C recently relocated to a new office building in Melville. Our new address is 175 Pinelawn Road, Melville, New York. If you have any questions or want to stop by feel free to contact us.
Michael Stanton Presents to Bar Association on Legal Issues Pertaining to Working Remotely
On September 17, 2020, Michael Stanton delivered a presentation to the Suffolk County Bar Association entitled “Working Remotely: Cyber Security Issues and Concerns,” along with co-panelists Mitchell Borkowsy, Esq. and Joseph Bucco, a senior internet technology security engineer. The program addressed the critical threats involved in remote working, best practices for protecting sensitive data, and addressing ethical considerations in terms of data protection and client privacy. Mr. Stanton provided guidance into the types of threats facing law firms, and the protocol for notifying clients when a data breach occurs.
Appellate Court Reverses Decision Allowing Client to Amend Complaint against Architect
In Sutton Animal Hospital, PLLC v. D&D Development et al., Michael Stanton secured a significant victory for an architectural firm before the Appellate Division, First Department by reversing a lower court decision allowing the plaintiff to amend its complaint without first complying with statutory protocol for doing so. The Appellate Division agreed that the architectural firm had been prejudiced by the lower court’s decision, which precluded “meaningful review of the sufficiency of the allegations” of the plaintiff’s amended complaint. A copy of the decision is available here.
Michael Stanton Secures Reversal of Order Terminating Guardianship
In In re Angeliki K (Anonymous), Michael Stanton obtained the reversal of a guardianship court decision denying the guardian’s application to change the incapacitated person’s place of abode to Athens, Greece, and terminating the guardianship. Contrary to the guardianship court’s order, the Appellate Division, Second Department, held that the guardianship court should not have terminated the guardianship on its own motion, without a hearing, and without determining the impact of termination on the incapacitated person. Moreover, the Appellate Division, Second Department, concluded that the guardian had properly supported the application to change the incapacitated person’s place of abode to Greece, and reversed both portions of the court’s decision in their entirety. A copy of the decision is available here.
The Affidavit of Merit Statute is Alive and Well in New Jersey
K&C attorneys David B. Kosakoff and Mark P. Bradley recently secured a complete dismissal of all claims against our client, a leading multi-disciplined engineering firm, in a wide-ranging, multi-million-dollar construction defect litigation in Hudson County, New Jersey. A copy of the article discussing the outcome of the case is available here.
K&C Victorious in ‘Falling Object’ Scaffold Law Case
Michael Stanton recently obtained summary judgment on behalf of a consulting engineer in a Labor Law § 240(1) “falling object” case, resulting in the dismissal of all claims against the design professional. Mr. Stanton persuasively argued that the consulting engineer’s limited scope of services, as acknowledged by all other parties, precluded a determination that is was in any way liable for the plaintiff’s injuries. A copy of the decision is available here.