For over 40 years, Ira Lipton has been litigating cases in federal and state trial and appellate courts, representing the MTA and other government entities in a uniquely broad spectrum of litigation. As a partner at Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, LLP in the firm’s Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice, Ira’s work has ranged from complex construction and lease litigation to suretyship to constitutional and civil rights class action litigation.
Before joining HNRK in 2001, Ira served as senior counsel for litigation for the MTA and as assistant chief in the General Litigation Division of the New York City Law Department. While in public service, he successfully argued Westinghouse v. New York City Transit Authority, a landmark decision upholding the alternative dispute resolution procedure included in MTA’s construction contracts. He also successfully argued Rogers v. New York City Transit Authority, a leading First Amendment case establishing parameters for free expression in public transportation facilities.
Since joining HNRK, Ira has successfully litigated complex commercial matters for the MTA and other state and municipal entities and as well as the firm’s other commercial clients. These representations include serving as the MTA’s lead counsel in a $300 million dispute with a national defense contractor over the installation of the security system for the nation’s largest public transportation organization, culminating in a five-week trial in federal court; and representing a group of investors in a real estate development where Ira succeeded in recovering the full $17 million investment by forcing the sale of land to a national land preservation organization.
Recent accomplishments:
- In a case with massive long-term financial implications, Ira won the dismissal, sustained on appeal, of a lawsuit by a private property owner against the MTA which sought compensation for the economic impact of the construction of the Second Avenue subway.
- Winning the dismissal of a federal class action suit seeking to mandate the installation of platform barriers in the New York City subway system and the MTA’s commuter lines.
- Winning the dismissal of a declaratory injunction action in federal court, affirmed on appeal, brought by a bonding company seeking relief from its obligation to complete a multi-million façade renovation on the New York City Transit Authorities’ headquarters.
- Winning summary judgment, including affirmance on appeal, on a contractor’s claim for delay damage in connection with the construction of the Long Island Rail terminal in Brooklyn.
- Winning summary judgment, including affirmance on appeal, in an action brought by a Grand Central Terminal tenant seeking to recover lost profits on its restaurant allegedly arising from the MTA’s construction work around GCT and the homeless problem.
- Winning the dismissal of a class action lawsuit brought by a motorist challenging the policy of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority to charge an annual fee for mailing EZPass account statements to account holders on a monthly, instead of a bimonthly basis.
Ira currently continues his representation of HNRK’s clients across a variety of areas, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, where he is lead counsel in a class action suit challenging the adequacy of the subway system’s elevators; governmental immunity, where he is representing the subway system in a series of accident cases where plaintiffs, who were struck by trains on the tracks, claim that subway trains travel too fast as they enter stations; the Due Process clause, in a claim brought by a major automobile leasing company complaining of TBTA’s policy of stopping vehicles leased or owned by scofflaws who have run up thousands of dollars in EZPass tolls and fines and turning the vehicles over to a private towing company; and construction, where Ira is lead counsel in a $90 million claim brought by one of MTA’s lead contractor’s on East Side Access project, which now brings the LIRR into Grand Central Terminal.
Ira has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, where he has taught a seminar on pretrial litigation and the discovery process.
Updated Sep 2025
