Led by Managing Partner Russell Yankwitt and Partner Michael Reed, Yankwitt LLP successfully resolved a multi-million-dollar federal litigation on behalf of The Crab House, a former Landry’s restaurant, with a settlement for less than five percent of the plaintiff’s initial demand. The case involved allegations that The Crab House breached a restrictive covenant in its lease by operating within five miles of another Landry’s-owned property that constituted a “competitor” as defined by the lease. During discovery, Yankwitt LLP focused on developing a factual record to establish that the two Landry’s restaurants offered different levels of service, and so were not […]

Yankwitt LLP’s pro bono team secured the complete withdrawal of a perjury and defamation case brought against the Legal Services of the Hudson Valley (LSHV) by a landlord who had been adverse to LSHV’s tenant client. Following LSHV’s successful prevention of the tenant’s eviction, the landlord turned around and sued LSHV and its staff attorney based on unidentified statements LSHV purportedly made in that underlying proceeding. Associate Connor Hilbie moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing the landlord failed to plead defamation as a matter of law because LSHV’s statements in the underlying proceeding were truthful and absolutely privileged, as they […]