Throughout his career, Rocco has successfully helped businesses and high net-worth individuals by litigating business disputes before state and federal courts nationwide from inception through trial. He also has extensive appellate experience. These cases have involved a variety of legal issues, such as shareholder and partnership disputes, breach of contract, tortious interference, unfair competition, real estate, false advertising, fraud, employment discrimination, restrictive covenants, insurance coverage, and injunctive relief.
Rocco specializes in navigating his clients through the morass of “corporate divorce”: businesses break ups, typically caused by family disputes, shareholder freeze-outs, and theft of business assets by an owner.
He also specializes in the enforcement of multi-million dollar judgments and has helped his clients successfully collect from debtors who hide and fraudulently transfer assets nationally and internationally.
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Collected a six-figure sum from New York attorney and law firm judgment debtors by uncovering their referral of several personal injury cases to a Florida law firm that had agreed to pay debtors a percentage of its attorneys’ fees, domesticating judgment creditor client’s New York judgment in Florida, and serving a writ of execution on the Florida law firm.
• Investigated Houston, Texas attorney and law firm judgment debtors and uncovered Puerto Rico personal injury cases in which they represent plaintiffs on a contingency fee basis, domesticated judgment creditor client’s New York judgment in Puerto Rico, and served writs of execution on defendants in those cases directing them to pay to judgment creditor client the portion of any settlement or judgment proceeds owed to debtors. Currently litigating client’s right to debtors’ six-figure attorneys’ fee in one of those cases.
• Investigated Dallas, Texas attorney and law firm judgment debtors and uncovered complex web of fraudulent transfers including (1) attorney’s referral for no consideration of the debtor law firm’s cases to his new law firm and (2) attorney’s sale for no consideration of $3 million worth of real property to a shell company owned by his wife. Results of the investigation served as a basis for a fraudulent transfer action in Texas that resulted in a favorable settlement.
• Obtained a judgment against client’s business partner for conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of the duty of loyalty as a result of partner’s theft of property from a business that owns the world’s largest silent film collection.
• Obtained a permanent injunction barring client’s partner from continuing a defamatory letter campaign directed to client’s family, friends, business colleagues, and religious leader.
• Represented leading manufacturer of firehouse vehicle exhaust removal systems in a lawsuit against competitor for false advertising and unfair competition that resulted in favorable settlement before trial.
• Defended bank against suit by mortgage company in connection with the break-up of their planned partnership in which the bank withdrew from a letter of intent to purchase the mortgage company. Obtained a favorable settlement during trial.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a major printing press in a wrongful termination and discrimination suit by its employee under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
• Obtained a reversal on appeal of an order allowing the owner of contaminated real property to withdraw funds deposited by the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority (owner of the New Jersey Meadowlands Sports Complex) to acquire the property by eminent domain, on the basis that the funds were required to remediate the property.
Rocco graduated from Gettysburg College and Seton Hall University School of Law, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Seton Hall Law Review. He is admitted to the New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey Bars, and has been admitted pro hac vice in various courts around the country.
