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Professional Biography |
Admitted to practice law in the states of New York and Connecticut
and in the United States District Courts for the Southern
and Eastern Districts of New York, Deborah joined the Firm’s
litigation group after graduating from Notre
Dame Law School in 1985. Experienced in all phases of
litigation, including trial and appellate work, Deborah has
drafted appellate briefs and successfully argued appeals before
the appellate courts. A proactive litigator, Deborah achieves
the client’s objectives not only through traditional
litigation but, when more expedient and financially beneficial,
through settlement, arbitration or mediation.
Deborah’s areas of practice primarily involve commercial
litigation, estate litigation and bankruptcy. She has represented
individual, corporate and institutional clients in commercial
litigation matters in trial and appellate courts. She has
also represented landlords, secured creditors and institutional
lenders in bankruptcy courts in New York and other States.
With extensive experience in estate litigation, Deborah
has assisted clients with will contests, accounting proceedings,
proceedings for the turnover of property, and proceedings
to remove fiduciaries. Deborah’s representation has
involved work in the Surrogate’s Courts of New York,
Westchester, Orange and Suffolk Counties.
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Cases of Interest |
Commercial
Litigation and Bankruptcy |
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Successful Objection
to Plan Confirmation: Through vigorous opposition
to a debtor’s proposed Chapter 11 reorganization
plan, including extensive use of expert analyses, Deborah
and a colleague negotiated an advantageous Chapter 11
reorganization plan for her client, a financial institution,
whereby the client received full payment of all outstanding
principal and interest due on a loan. |
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Dismissal of Adversary
Proceeding for Return of Alleged Preferential Transfer:
Deborah and a colleague successfully represented a landlord
in Bankruptcy Court on a preference claim. The debtor
argued that rent checks tendered to the landlord prior
to the rent payment due date, cleared the debtor’s
bank account after the rental payment due date, and
therefore, the payments were made on account of antecedent
debts. If the debtor had prevailed, the landlord would
have been forced to return the rent payments. Siding
with Deborah and her client, the Bankruptcy Court disagreed
with the debtor, granting the landlord’s motion
for summary judgment. The Bankruptcy Court ruled that
payment by check, made prior to the rental payment due
dates, suspended the rental obligations until the checks
cleared. Officially reported at: Child World, Inc.
v. Service Merchandise Company, Inc. (In Re Child World,
Inc.)/, 173 B.R. 473 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 1994). |
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Settlement of
Landlord’s Rent Claim in Bankruptcy Case:
Assisted client in negotiating successful settlement
of a rent claim in Handy Andy Home Improvement Centers,
Inc., a bankruptcy case that was pending in the
United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District
of Illinois (Eastern Division). |
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Estate
Litigation |
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Trust Contests: "Will Contests" take different forms. Trustees of a purported revocable inter vivos trust may claim title to property that would otherwise be disposed of under a Will or by intestacy (without a Will). In a relatively novel case, Matter of Hoffman, 6 Misc. 3d 1011A, 800 N.Y.S.2d 342 (Surr. Ct., Westchester 2004), the firm represented a client who was a beneficiary under her husband's Will of a membership in the New York Stock Exchange. However, even before the execution of his Will, the decedent allegedly created a revocable trust agreement for the benefit of a child of a prior marriage and allegedly transferred his NYSE seat to the trust. The NYSE seat had not been transferred to the trust through any assignment process but had been listed on a schedule of assets of the trust, with the following notation: "1. Membership in the New York Stock Exchange. The NY Stock Exchange does not permit registration of memberships in the name of trustees. Grantor and Trustees recognize this to be the case." Citing the provisions of a relatively new statute, EPTL 7-1.18, Deborah and her partners, Robert M. Redis and Frank W. Streng, sought summary judgment against the trustees strictly on the question of the effectiveness of the transfer, arguing, among other things, that the recital of the NYSE seat as an asset of the trust in a schedule was not enough to consummate the transfer. The Court agreed and dismissed this portion of the trustees' case. |
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Will Contest Dismissed
on Motion: Deborah successfully represented the
nominated executor in a will contest in Orange County.
The Surrogate’s Court granted the nominated executor’s
motion for summary judgment and dismissed all seven
objections to the probate of the will, directing that
the will be admitted to probate. The Surrogate Court’s
decision and order is not officially reported. |
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Will Contest –
Defended Jury Verdict Dismissing Objections: After
a jury trial, all objections to the probate of the decedent’s
codicil to her Will were dismissed. The Firm represented
the proponent of the codicil and Deborah handled the
appeal. The decree was affirmed and the codicil was
admitted to probate. Officially reported at: Matter
of Marsh, 236 A.D.2d 404 (2d Dep’t 1997).
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Proceeding for
the turnover of property: Deborah represented one
of the country’s top 100 art collectors in a proceeding
commenced against a decedent’s estate to recover
artwork that the collector lent to the decedent. Deborah
successfully negotiated a settlement of this litigation
whereby artwork was returned to the client without protracted
litigation. |
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Proceeding Ruled
Time-Barred: Deborah represented a respondent in
a discovery proceeding in the Westchester Surrogate’s
Court in which the petitioner sought to have the respondent
transfer certain property to the estate. The respondent
moved for summary judgment asserting that the claims
were time-barred (i.e. the statute of limitations had
expired). The court agreed and granted the motion. The
Surrogate’s decision is not officially reported.
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Removal of Fiduciary:
Deborah and her colleagues worked successfully to uphold
a New York County Surrogate Court’s ruling removing
a fiduciary for improvidence. The Appellate Division
affirmed the Surrogate’s order. (Officially reported
at: Matter
of Marsh, 173 A.D.2d 336 (1st Dep't 1991), app.
dismissed, 78 N.Y.2d 990, mot. for lv. to appeal denied,
79 N.Y.2d 751. That order ultimately led to a surcharge
in excess of $1.6 million against the removed fiduciary.
Officially reported at: Matter
of Marsh, 265 A.D.2d 253 (1st Dep’t 1999).
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Award of Portion
of Stock to Agnes Carvel: Participated in a series
of trials in the Estate of Thomas Carvel. In one trial,
Agnes Carvel’s Estate claimed ownership of certain
corporate stock. The Firm’s client supported the
claims of Agnes Carvel’s Estate. Thomas Carvel’s
Estate and the charitable foundation created by the
Carvels challenged this claim alleging that Thomas’s
Estate owned all of the stock. The Surrogate ruled that
Agnes Carvel’s Estate owned 50% of the stock.
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Other
Cases of Interest |
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Award of Sole
Custody of Minor Child: After a lengthy trial, the
trial court awarded sole custody of the minor child
to the Firm’s client. The trial court’s
order was affirmed on appeal. Deborah assisted with
the trial and prepared the post-trial and the appellate
briefs. Officially reported at:
Amari v. Molloy, 293 A.D.2d 431 (2d Dep’t 2002).
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Pro Bono Work
for the League of Women Voters of Westchester: Deborah
represented the League of Women Voters of Westchester
on their application for permission to submit an amicus
curiae brief to the Appellate Division in connection
with a redistricting case. The League’s application
was granted and the brief was filed with the Appellate
Division, Second Department. The League’s amicus
curiae brief urged the Appellate Division to reverse
the trial court’s order upholding a local law
redistricting Westchester County’s 17-member Board
of Legislators as a result of the 1990 Census. Ultimately,
the Appellate Division ruled the local law unconstitutional.
That decision is officially reported at Town
of Scarsdale v. County of Westchester, 192 A.D.2d 517
(2d Dep’t 1993). |
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Vacated Planning
Board Resolution Which Denied Release Of Performance
and Maintenance Bonds: Deborah and her colleagues
successfully vacated a planning board resolution which
denied an application to release a performance bond
and maintenance bond based upon 43 purported violations
of the petitioner’s obligations under the bonds.
The petitioner asserted, and the Court so found, that
the planning board exceeded its authority to the extent
it considered areas not within the scope of the bonds
or areas that were the subject of prior bond reduction
applications which the planning board had previously
approved. The decision and order vacating the planning
board resolution was not officially reported.
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Professional and Community Involvement: |
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Education: |
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Admitted to Practice: |
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New
York |
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Connecticut |
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United States District
Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
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