DAVID M. LEVY

• Commercial and Corporate Litigation
• Creditors’ Rights and Bankruptcy Litigation
• Employment Litigation
• Executive Compensation
• Investment Fund Litigation
• Partnership Disputes and Corporate Breakups
• Real Estate Litigation
• Regulatory Defense
• Risk Management
• Trusts & Estates Litigation

David’s role as a problem-solver takes many forms, and he regularly sits in on board of directors’ meetings, works closely with clients on sensitive regulatory matters, internal investigations and, on several occasions, has been engaged to mediate complex commercial disputes, including his appointment by the New York Supreme Court as a Special Master to oversee the orderly liquidation of pledged collateral.

David’s extensive litigation and regulatory defense experience includes the following:

• Complex commercial litigation, including unfair competition, restrictive covenants, trade secrets, real estate and construction, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy and insolvency, and an extensive variety of business torts and contract-based claims.
• Corporate and Securities litigation and arbitration, shareholder and partner disputes, internal investigations, corporate and partnership dissolutions and breakups and securities fraud, representing investment funds, private and institutional investors as well as institutional broker dealers and individual brokers.
• Employment and labor counseling, and dispute resolution involving post-employment restrictions, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, and federal and state discrimination and retaliation claims in the state and federal courts, before federal and state administrative agencies and in various arbitration forums.
• Real estate development and construction litigation, including ownership and title disputes, mechanics’ lien and mortgage foreclosures, and complex commercial lease disputes.
• Trusts and Estates litigation in the New York Surrogate’s Court and the New York Supreme Court involving, among other things, will contests, discovery disputes, accountings, and fiduciary matters.
• Administrative matters and regulatory defense, investigations and enforcement proceedings, regulatory audits and examinations before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA, formerly, National Association of Securities Dealers), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), National Futures Association (NFA), Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Education, New York State Education Department, New York State Comptroller’s Office and New York State Department of Labor.

• Representation of director of research in multiple federal and state class-action suits and FINRA and AAA arbitrations stemming from the demise of a $4 billion NYC-based hedge fund, which were ultimately settled and withdrawn against him without requiring his financial contribution or admission of liability.
• Successful defense of action resulting in dismissal of all claims against hedge fund and co-founding principal in federal court action brought by former executive employee claiming more than $20 million in unpaid commissions and bonuses.
• Representation of Options Trader in FINRA arbitration against major brokerage firm resulting in an award of substantial lost commissions in favor of the client and the complete offset of the unpaid balance of multimillion dollar signing advance asserted by the brokerage as a counterclaim.
• Representation of a substantial family office in a FINRA arbitration against a major financial institution leading to an award of $7 million and a further recovery of $6.5 million against related parties.
• Successful defense of federal court action against sole principal of foreign investment fund by substantial multi-national investor seeking to pierce the corporate veil in order to enforce a $2.2 million judgment previously obtained against the fund.
• Successful defense of litigation brought by founding majority shareholder of $75 million NYC elevator company against the two junior “sweat equity” principals, resulting in the enforcement of the parties’ initial agreement which was scribbled on a napkin over a working lunch, and ultimately the clients’ acquisition of 100% equity in the company.
• Successful representation of a commercial property owner in action to recover the $11.75 million purchase price for the sale of a three-parcel assemblage on the lower east side to a hotel developer. Based upon the Supreme Court’s favorable rulings, which were deemed to be law of the case, the defendant developer was stripped of its defenses and had no choice but to resolve the matter in favor of our client without further litigation, resulting a sale from which our client received payment in full of the unpaid purchase price.
• Defense of engineering company and majority principal in litigation brought by founding minority shareholder resulting in the redemption of plaintiff’s shares for nominal consideration.
• Successful defense of established film archive and production company in a series of actions in Florida, California, New Jersey and New York over a period of ten years brought by music and entertainment celebrity seeking the return of the intellectual property and copyright rights to his syndicated television variety show from the 70’s/80’s. After our filing of a declaratory judgment action in the Southern District of New York the dispute was finally resolved with the entry of a consent judgment adjudicating our clients’ ownership rights in the property without any payment of additional consideration.
• Defense of claims of fraud and breach of contract brought against minority owner of private nursery/elementary school resulting in the successful redemption of her shares at a significant premium.
• Successful representation of former owner of junior college against publicly held purchaser of business in AAA arbitration resulting in the recovery of the unpaid $4.8 million balance of purchase price plus legal fees and costs.
• Representation of a closely-held music publishing company in litigation against the world-wide industry leader resulting in a favorable multimillion dollar settlement of breach of contract action.
• Successful defense of regulatory actions brought by the CBOE enforcement division and the National Futures Association against the principal of a defunct commodity pool operator.
• Successful defense of FINRA investigations against registered representatives

How Hedge Fund Managers May Address the Practical Implications of the NY Court of Appeal’s Attempt to Clarify the Common Interest Doctrine

The HedgeFund Law Report, September 2016

Dogged Due Diligence—Avoiding a Bad Foreign Partnership

Quoted Contributor, Global Trade Magazine, April/May 2016