NICOLETTI HORNIG & SWEENEY - Key Persons
Barbara Sheehan has been involved in all aspects of litigation involving construction law, products liability, insurance coverage, reinsurance disputes, directors and officers liability, insurance brokers errors and omissions, employment practices liability, legal malpractice, and medical and hospital malpractice before administrative bodies and in both state and federal courts. Sheehan has tried high-exposure civil cases to conclusion, argued nine cases before the New York Court of Appeals, and numerous cases before the Appellate Division, First and Second Departments, as well as appeals before the First and Second Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Barbara was a founding partner of the New York firm of Walsh & Sheehan, LLP, which joined its litigation and arbitration practice in the areas of professional liability and insurance and reinsurance with Peterson & Ross in July of 2000. Barbara was also previously an assistant district attorney in New York County under the leadership of Robert M. Morgenthau.
David Visco is an associate in the firm's construction and general civil litigation practices. He represents property owners, general contractors, construction managers, and subcontractors in high-exposure civil litigation in New York Supreme Court and Federal Court - including matters involving construction and New York Labor Law, construction defects, property damage, insurance coverage, subrogation, and general liability,
Prior to joining Nicoletti Hornig & Sweeney, David practiced at several regional and national civil litigation firms across numerous practice areas including construction accident and New York Labor Law, construction defect and property damage, insurance coverage, subrogation, premises liability, product liability, housing discrimination, medical malpractice, professional liability, and legal malpractice.
Douglas Scheller is a maritime associate who has merged his personal and professional experience on the water with his legal focus. He has counseled and advocated for a variety of marine commercial, professional, and recreational clientele. His representation ranges from providing pre-litigation advice, to managing active litigation, as well as devising strategic solutions for complex coverage disputes. In addition, Douglas routinely handles ocean and inland transportation of goods subrogation matters and assists the firm's Trade Advisory team in providing a wide range of services to the firm's multinational clients. He has a depth of experience spanning federal and state courts in multiple jurisdictions, along with arbitration matters.
Douglas completed his J.D. at Tulane University Law School in 2017, where he earned a Certificate of Specialization in Maritime Law and served as President of the Maritime Law Society. Prior to joining Nicoletti, Hornig & Sweeney, Douglas worked at a distinguished New York maritime law firm specializing in complex insurance defense and coverage matters. Douglas is currently admitted to practice in the states of New York, California, and Florida.
Ilya Gorelik is an associate in the firm's construction, insurance, and general civil litigation practices. He represents property owners, general contractors, subcontractors, and construction managers, in New York Supreme Court litigation. Ilya works in matters involving New York Insurance Law, New York Labor Law, and general liability, among other matters.
Prior to joining Nicoletti Hornig & Sweeney, Ilya represented a variety of clients-including manufacturers, property owners, public entities, and private citizens-in matters of both general liability and asbestos litigation. In his free time, Ilya enjoys hiking, kayaking, reading, and spending time with friends and family.
James Morris, Of Counsel, has extensive experience handling all aspects of civil litigation involving employment practices liability, construction and labor law, professional liability and legal malpractice, products liability, property damage, insurance coverage and contractual disputes, and subrogation and collection claims at both the trial and appellate levels.
Jeremy Bernfeld, Of Counsel, is in the firm's maritime and construction practices. He has represented property owners, general contractors, construction managers, and subcontractors in New York Supreme Court litigation, in matters involving New York Labor Law, New York Insurance Law, insurance coverage, subrogation, and general liability, among other matters.
John Nicoletti is the managing partner of the firm with more than 42 years of domestic and international insurance coverage litigation experience. John represents the interests of major international and domestic underwriters in federal and state courts throughout the United States. He advises clients on a full range of insurance and reinsurance matters, with a focus on marine, inland marine, commercial property & casualty and energy insurance. John also counsels clients following pollution incidents on how to respond to the incident in compliance with federal and state law (e.g., Oil Pollution Act of 1990, Clean Water Act, CERCLA and state equivalents), on coordinating with governmental agencies responding to the incident, and on how to manage third-party claims arising out of the incident. In addition, John regularly represents a variety of interests in the shipping and transportation industries in federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration, throughout the United States in connection with lawsuits arising out of maritime casualties, pollution incidents, cargo damage, charter party disputes, maritime liens, salvage, personal injury and commercial disputes.
John has also authored or reviewed and supplemented many open cargo policy forms for multiple domestic underwriters and upon request reviewed and at underwriters' request prepared risk assessment reports on cargo policy forms offered by the major brokers.
Further, John has been, and is, lead counsel for multiple insurers on COVID claims and litigations, riot/vandalism, weather-related and terrorism catastrophes, flood/wind/named storm/deductible/hurricane and sublimit controversies, home owners' policy litigation defense, corrosion analysis, fire losses, cyber risk, allocation, exhaustion and occurrence analysis, all-risk and builder's risk policies, policy and reinsurance wording and forms analysis, building and crane collapses, transportation accidents, boiler and machinery, utility and power generation loss, contamination, arson and fraud, defense of insurers against public transportation agency first-party lawsuits, reinsurance arbitration, federal multi-district disaster litigation, chemical plant loss, oil company claims, refinery loss and related energy loss, on shore and off shore energy loss, coal and gold mining loss, satellite loss, defense of officers and directors, whistle blower defense, defamation defense, products liability defense, commercial marine coverage disputes, warehouse liability, marine cargo, bills of lading disputes, construction accidents, construction project sequence analysis, defense of serious personal injury, litigation of commercial and real estate disputes, bankruptcy, employee-related issues, land use, financial guaranty, retrospective premium, advertising liability, and product recall.
John Nicoletti argues motions and appeals in various federal and state courts. He has litigated as U.S. counsel in international commercial, insurance and reinsurance disputes, applying U.K., Bermudian, French and Spanish law, represented U.S. clients in foreign insurance and commercial disputes, and assisted foreign clients seeking discovery in the U.S. regarding foreign litigations. John has represented foreign clients in commercial disputes.
John has litigated cases in federal and state courts throughout the United States, including New York, New Jersey, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands and West Virginia.
John has authored articles, made presentations as part of industry panels, and lectured on multi-layer approaches to ambiguity questions, weather related catastrophes, ensuing loss, punitive damages, business interruption, occurrence issues, cyber and CGL insurance trends, and claims leadership.
John J. Hession has been involved in all aspects of litigation in admiralty law, aviation, construction, labor law, civil litigation, and insurance coverage before both State and Federal Courts for over forty years. "Jack" Hession has tried over one hundred and fifty high exposure jury and non-jury cases to conclusion, including the 2003 Staten Island Ferry Limitation of Liability, in which he was lead Counsel for the Claimants. Mr. Hession has argued numerous cases in the New York Court of Appeals, as well as in the First, Second and Third Departments, numerous cases in the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh circuit Courts of Appeals, and The United States Supreme Court.
Jonathan Sellers is an associate attorney with more than 10 years of extensive litigation and transaction experience. He is an associate in the firm's construction practice, and has experience handling all aspects of civil litigation involving construction defect, employment practices liability, construction and labor law, professional liability and legal malpractice, property damage, insurance coverage, contractual disputes, entertainment law, and LGBTQ civil rights and employee protections. Jonathan also has trial and appellate experience.
Prior to joining Nicoletti Hornig & Sweeney, Jonathan worked for a boutique plaintiff's firm in Texas helping a variety of underserved clients, and then the New York City flagship office for an international Big Law firm. His clients have ranged from those living below the poverty line up to some of the largest corporations in insurance, construction and real estate. This diverse experience allows him to meet clients wherever they are and treat their legal matters with the attention and care that they deserve.
Jordan Vogel concentrates his practice in the areas of insurance litigation, admiralty matters, and general civil litigation. He also assists a team of lawyers at the firm in representing multi-national freight forwarding and transportation industry clients in litigation and recovery matters in federal and state courts. Jordan also assists in providing a wide range of Trade Advisory services to the firm's multi-national clients including regulatory filings with the Department of Transportation, the FAA, the TSA, OFAC and other U.S. government agencies.
Prior to joining Nicoletti Hornig & Sweeney, Jordan worked as Claims Counsel for one of the country's premier insurance companies where he handled insurance coverage, claim litigation, and claim resolution.
Joseph Santiago is an associate in the firm's construction, insurance, and general civil litigation practices. He represents property owners, general contractors, construction managers, and subcontractors in New York Supreme Court litigation, in matters involving New York Labor Law, New York Insurance Law, insurance coverage, and general liability.
Prior to joining Nicoletti Hornig & Sweeney, Joseph gained experience in insurance law and employment law, representing both private clients and public entities. In law school, Joseph was a judicial intern with Judge Gloria Dabiri of the Kings County Supreme Court.
Kevin O'Malley counsels and represents domestic and international insurers on coverage and other issues arising under marine and non-marine property and liability policies such as open cargo / stock throughput, commercial output, marine general liability, commercial general liability, inland marine, hull and machinery, protection and indemnity, and charterer's liability policies. He also counsels and represents vessel owners, logistics providers, freight forwarders, transportation companies, shippers, terminals, commodity traders and others in the domestic and international shipping and transportation industries on commercial disputes, cargo damage claims and defense, marine casualties, oil spill response and other areas relevant to the industry. Kevin also represents underwriters and multi-national freight forwarding / transportation industry clients in subrogation and recovery matters. He has a nationwide litigation and an international arbitration practice.
Kevin and a team of U.S. and international colleagues also provide a wide range of trade advisory services to the firm's multi-national clients, including filings with the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security Administration, the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) and other U.S. government agencies. He regularly counsels underwriters on their policy forms and other clients on their commercial transactions, including the drafting of the contracts and other documents needed to effect their business goals.
Lauren Varrone is an experienced litigator who handles general liability matters at the firm, including construction and premises liability cases.
Prior to joining Nicoletti Hornig & Sweeney, Lauren practiced at various civil litigation firms across myriad practice areas, including labor law, professional liability, and insurance coverage matters as well as contractual disputes.
Nooshin Namazi has over two decades of experience litigating and advising international and domestic insurance underwriters on complex insurance coverage matters nationwide involving all aspects of maritime commerce including open cargo policies, cargo legal liability, commercial general liability, hull and P&I and other types of insurance contracts. Nooshin regularly counsels underwriters on their policy forms and other clients on their commercial transactions, including the drafting of the contracts and other documents needed to effect their business goals. Nooshin also counsels and defends multi-national freight forwarding and transportation industry clients nationwide (in federal and state courts) and in International Courts. Nooshin and her team of U.S. and International colleagues provide a wide range of Trade Advisory services to the firm's multi-national clients including regulatory filings with the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security Administration, the office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) and other agencies.
Richard Stone's practice is concentrated in the area of marine insurance litigation (including hull, marine liabilities, cargo and yachts) primarily with respect to policy coverage and defense. Richard also has extensive experience in matters involving the ocean transportation of goods, both bulk and packaged, arising out of marine casualties (e.g., collision, stranding and sinking) including salvage and general average. He has substantial arbitration experience, usually on behalf of the charterer, and has, on occasion, been nominated to serve as an arbitrator.
Richard was asked to join Nicoletti Hornig & Sweeney as a partner in 2012 when the prominent New York maritime law firm with which he had been practicing for 33 years closed its doors.
Robert Novak concentrates his practice in the areas of marine and offshore energy insurance matters, both coverage and defense, under all types of standard and manuscript insurance policies including hull and machinery, marine general liability, protection and indemnity, cargo and builder's risk. Robert also has extensive experience in large, complex litigation involving marine casualties.
Terry Stoltz has been practicing admiralty and maritime law for 45 years. Terry has litigated numerous types of maritime disputes involving both ocean going and inland vessels. This includes collisions, allisions, groundings, cargo damage, general average, hull and machinery insurance, protection and indemnity insurance, pollution, salvage, wreck removal and mortgage foreclosures. He handles cases involving all of the special remedies under the Supplemental Admiralty and Maritime Rules of the United States, including Rule B maritime attachments, Rule C in rem arrests, Rule D possessory actions and Rule F limitation of liability actions. He has also counseled clients during casualty investigations conducted by the United States Coast Guard, the National Transportation Safety Board and vessel flag states.
He has extensive experience in maritime and commercial arbitrations and mediations involving disputes arising out of charter parties, bills of lading, vessel sales contracts and commodity sales contracts, including ad hoc proceedings before the Society of Maritime Arbitrators and administered proceedings before the American Arbitration Association and other organizations. He counsels clients engaged in arbitrations in London. Terry also serves as an arbitrator and a mediator.
Terry represents oil and commodity trading companies, not only with respect to their transportations contracts, but also their purchase and sale agreements. He is available to consult clients as disputes arise with an eye toward resolving the problem so as to avoid subsequent litigation or arbitration. He has also assisted clients in drafting standard contract clauses to best protect their interests.
Upon graduation from Columbia Law School, Terry worked with Burlingham Underwood & Lord, becoming a partner in 1981. He joined Nicoletti Hornig & Sweeney in September 2002.
Val Wamser's practice involves all areas of maritime law, transportation law, insurance law and commercial litigation. Val has extensive experience in the areas of insurance defense, insurance coverage and insurance subrogation litigation at both the trial and appellate court levels.
Throughout his nearly thirty-five years in private practice, Walter Kretz has taken responsibility for civil litigation in federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration, relating to commercial and personal matters for corporate and individual clients, and for negotiating and drafting corporate and individual contracts and operating, shareholder, employment and purchase and sale agreements. Throughout that time, he also has served as conflict counsel for the City of New York in federal and state court litigation, as well as outside general counsel for several corporate clients. He has tried many cases to verdict in federal and state court and has argued appeals before New York state and federal appellate courts.
Walter joined Nicoletti Hornig & Sweeney after nearly thirty years as a partner in the now-dissolved firm of Scoppetta Seiff Kretz & Abercrombie, and seven years representing the City of New York in the Affirmative Litigation Division of the New York City Law Department, the last three as the Assistant Chief.