Gary Meyerhoff

Gary Meyerhoff is a Partner and a trial lawyer who represents companies in complex litigation in state and federal courts, and in arbitrations, across the country. His primary practice area is Commercial Litigation.

He handles high-stakes cases on behalf of businesses in a variety of industries, including property owners, bank lenders and hotel industry clients in disputes over the sale and management of real estate inside and outside the hospitality industry. He has defended insurers and reinsurers in complex fraud cases and coverage disputes, and has represented committees and other key players in complex bankruptcy cases, including in contested plan confirmation hearings on valuation and other bankruptcy issues.

He also handles complex defamation and discrimination cases, employment disputes, reseller and franchise matters, and disputes concerning corporate and limited liability company governance. He has conducted internal investigations for clients and challenged investigations for clients.

Between October 2019 and August 2022, he served as General Counsel of the New York State Liquor Authority (SLA), where he was responsible for supervising the team that prosecutes violations of the Alcoholic Beverage Control laws and SLA rules, representing the SLA in all court litigation, advising the SLA Board on disciplinary and licensing decisions, coordinating with industry organisations and representatives, and suggesting and implementing statutory and regulatory changes.

His representative experience includes representing NY Global Group and its CEO at trial, in post-trial motions and on appeal in defence of a complex defamation and sexual harassment action brought by a former employee in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York; representing Starwood Capital Group, owner of a luxury hotel and condominium resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in litigation following termination of a 25-year management agreement due to the hotel manager's failure to meet contractually agreed luxury standards; and representing former CBS Evening News anchor and 60 Minutes correspondent Dan Rather in his breach of contract and fraud lawsuit against CBS and Viacom.

He enforced a non-competition and non-solicitation agreement in California state court against the seller of a telecommunications company on behalf of the purchaser, a private equity firm, obtaining a preliminary injunction and ultimately a favourable settlement in litigation in four jurisdictions. He defended Genworth Financial in a putative nationwide class action relating to alleged fraud in siphoning funds from Genworth's long-term care insurance business reserves, and represented a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan in an action against its pharmacy benefits manager for fraud and mismanagement.

He defended Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company in New York State Court against claims that they had, as majority shareholders in an automotive company, aided and abetted the company's fraud in procuring $450 million in new loans through false representations of solvency. He successfully represented a financial institution in its claims to recover tens of millions of US dollars in mortgages stolen by an intermediary and fraudulently sold to Fannie Mae in the secondary mortgage market.

He represented investors and committees in and out of bankruptcy court in fraudulent transfer and other litigation, including defeating plan confirmation as special litigation counsel to the creditors' committee in the Exide Technologies bankruptcy and representing the US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation as lead litigation counsel in the American Airlines bankruptcy. He also served as litigation counsel to a United States trustee and receiver controlling the assets of certain New York waste-carting companies forfeited to the government in connection with criminal convictions for violations of environmental laws and the US Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

He spent many years responding to nationwide consumer fraud class actions, regulatory investigations and opt-out lawsuits brought against The Prudential Insurance Company of America based on allegations of improper individual life insurance sales practices, including the successful defence of Prudential in a two-month jury trial in Miami federal court, a victory selected by the National Law Journal as the Defense Win of the Month.

In his New York State service, he helped stop the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 by drafting emergency executive orders and associated agency guidance to restrict restaurants and taverns from on-premises service and supervising enforcement statewide. He established the model for "alcohol to go" privileges for restaurants and taverns followed by 46 other states during the pandemic, and counselled the NYSLA Board on implementing significant changes, including granting movie theatres the privilege to serve wine and beer, modifying the state's interpretation of its tied-house laws, changing licensing rules for delivery services and other third-party providers, eliminating the self-certification programme for attorney licence applications, and enforcing split-case fee charge caps on retail alcoholic beverage purchases. He wrote or edited all litigation papers, prevailing in 31 of 32 Article 78 and other cases brought against the NYSLA, including 9 appeals, while serving as General Counsel.

He holds a JD from New York University School of Law (1993) and a BA, with distinction, from Cornell University (1990).