Holwell Shuster & Goldberg is widely and duly revered as among the preeminent litigation boutiques both in New York City’s congested market and nationally. Peers and clients stand united as admirers of the firm’s approach and litigation acumen. The firm elicits a remarkable level of accolades from former and current co-counsel as well as referring lawyers. “I am working with them a lot, [on] some very big-ticket litigation of other kinds besides Chancery work,” testifies one co-counsel “I worked with them on [a case regarding] Rite-Aid concerning coverage for liabilities for opioids.” Another declares, “We brought them in for a significant matter that wound up not being litigated but would have been a big deal if it had, and I had the utmost confidence them.” Still another confirms, “I tried this implied-covenant trial with them, which virtually never happens in bankruptcy world, and the lead trial lawyer on this case was from Holwell Shuster.” Another peer insists, “You need to recognize Holwell Shuster in the insurance category more! They are getting a ton of that Chubb work now.”
By way of example, a firm team composed of Michael Shuster,
Matthew Gurgel and Avi Israeli recently added to a series of victories that it has earned for Chubb as nationwide lead trial and appellate counsel in the insurer’s docket of over 20 insurance-coverage cases related to the opioid crisis, in the past year alone securing summary judgment victories in litigation against CVS, Publix, and a Mallinckrodt trust—building on prior summary judgment victories against Rite Aid, Zogenix and McKesson. The cases place at issue Chubb’s insurance contracts with some of the largest players in the industry, including distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson; manufacturers like Mallinckrodt, Endo, Amneal, and Zogenix; and pharmacies like CVS, Kroger, Costco, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Albertson’s, Giant Eagle, Publix, UNFI, and Walmart. Continuing to serve at the forefront of the firm’s team, founding partner year after year further cements his position as a complex commercial authority, including landing himself a coveted position among Benchmark’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America. Among the most active of Holwell’s litigators, Shuster continues to offer representation to regular client Visa in numerous complex and long-running antitrust matters, both in the class-action and opt-out capacities. In the opt-out cases, the country’s leading merchants are challenging credit and debit card rules that go to the heart of the industry and seeking billions of dollars in damages, pre-trebling. Shuster also acts with
Vincent Levy and Neil Lieberman for LCM XXII and other issuers of collateralized loan obligations in a dispute with Serta Simmons Bedding over its COVID-related refinancing. In 2020, Serta entered into a transaction where it received $200 million of new-money financing from a group of lenders—which did not include plaintiffs in this case—who also agreed to redeem their first- and second-lien loans for a new category of super-priority debt with payment rights ahead of the first-lien loans. Levy, along with Scott Danner, also secured a significant jury verdict against Boeing in litigation alleging the aerospace behemoth stole substantial trade secrets from aircraft startup Zunum Aero related to the development of electric and hybrid-electric aircrafts. The jury awarded Zunum damages of $81.3 million for trade secret misappropriation, $67.08 million for breach of contract, and another $11.56 million for tortious interference. “Vince Levy is an exceptional lawyer,” declares a peer. “[He is] Very good and thorough.”
