A large portion of Bill’s practice is devoted to counseling and defending members of the construction industry against actions for construction site injuries and contractual liabilities. He is an active member of the Associated General Contractors of New York State, where he is involved in issues of risk management, insurance, and legislative reform.

• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of an owner and general contractor in a New York Labor Law action for defense and indemnity against a subcontractor that hired the plaintiff’s employer
• Litigated a Labor Law action to discontinuance after proving that the contractor’s indemnity obligations did not arise until after the plaintiff’s accident and therefore the action was barred by the New York Workers’ Compensation Law
• Won summary judgment dismissing a complaint alleging violations of the New York Labor Law against architects and engineers responsible for the design and inspection of the construction of a municipal wastewater treatment plant
• Won summary judgment in a federal action under New York Labor Law where the court held that the plaintiff, as a warehouseman, whose regular job was to move materials around his employer’s factory, was not engaged in “construction” when he moved pieces of shelving from the old warehouse to a new warehouse even though the new warehouse was “under construction” at the time of his accident

Bill’s experience also includes the defense of environmental actions under CERCLA and petroleum discharges under NY’s Navigation Act.  He has represented manufacturers in large multi-party litigations involving environmental remediation and has acted as liaison counsel for 150 third-party defendants in CERCLA landfill cases.

Bill also concentrates in legal issues involving municipal and law enforcement liability, defending municipalities, county jails, sheriff’s departments, and other public agencies. He defends such agencies against lawsuits brought by detainees and others who claim civil rights violations. For more than a decade, Bill has been active in numerous cases brought pursuant to U.S. Code Section 1983, alleging claims from wrongful arrest to deprivation of civil rights.

Bill has lectured on products liability and other topics for the New York State Bar Association. In addition, he authored “Liability of Inspection Stations for Negligent Inspections” for In Transit, the Defense Research Institute (DRI) Trucking Newsletter.

• Won summary judgment in a products liability action on behalf of cold-storage door manufacturer where it was claimed that the door design caused permanent injuries to a restaurant chef
• Obtained voluntary discontinuance of an action against a homebuilder where a fire, originating in the chimney chase, burned the house to the ground