Christopher B. Block

Obtained a defense verdict in a one week trial in Hudson County, New Jersey in a case where plaintiff alleged that the defendant insurance producer failed to alert plaintiff of a policy coming up for renewal and then failed to advise plaintiff that the policy had lapsed and that plaintiff had no insurance. The plaintiff claimed that defendant breached a duty of care in a claim for professional negligence. Due to the breadth of the insurance policy at issue, the claim against the defendant was for $500,000. Christopher argued and was able to establish that any potential breach of contract or breach of a professional duty of care was not the proximate cause of plaintiff’s damages. After an hour and fourteen minutes, the jury agreed and found that plaintiff could not establish a proximate cause between the alleged breach of a duty of care and plaintiff’s damages. 

Obtained summary judgment in Hudson County in favor of a project manager in a serious bicycle accident lawsuit. Plaintiff was thrown off his bike after striking a significant pothole in front of a building where our client performed work several years earlier. We successfully argued that plaintiff’s alleged attempts to connect our client with the existence of the pothole were far too attenuated to be of any assistance to a jury. Following oral argument, Judge agreed and granted summary judgment.

Successfully won a motion to strike plaintiff’s expert in a complicated New Jersey professional malpractice matter. In this case, following two rounds of briefing and two rounds of oral argument, the court agreed that plaintiff’s expert’s opinion was a net opinion and did not provide any substance or evidence of a lack of a duty of care.  

Obtained a summary judgment on behalf of our client. The plaintiff was injured when she fell from a 25-foot rock-climbing wall at our client's facility.  After reaching the summit of the wall, plaintiff, a certified climber, pushed off to begin repelling down, only to realize that she forgot to connect to the auto-belay system.  She proceeded to fall to the ground and fractured both ankles for which she underwent open reduction internal fixation surgery.  Plaintiff had previously visited the client's facility approximately 35 times and had executed a liability waiver on each occasion, including the date of the accident.  We moved for summary judgment to dismiss plaintiff's Complaint based on the fact that the liability waiver was enforceable.  Plaintiff argued that the liability waiver was only enforceable as to her claims of ordinary negligence and that the issue of whether the defendant was grossly negligent was a triable issue of fact.  However, we successfully argued that no reasonable jury could find that the client was grossly negligent based on the client's testimony of the safety procedures, protocols and equipment in place at the rock-climbing gym. Accordingly, the Court granted our motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff's Complaint, in its entirety, against the client.

Successfully defended the manufacturer of a manlift in a wrongful death product liability claim where the plaintiff, the lift operator, was crushed in the lift.

Obtained a dismissal in a legal malpractice claim in federal district court of New York where fraud and damages in excess of $8 million dollars were alleged.

Represented a national broker dealer in a New York Labor law claim where serious multiple bodily injuries were alleged. All claims were favorably resolved.

Negotiated stipulation of dismissal with prejudice without any monetary contribution in favor of large national crane company sued in a wrongful death matter.  Plaintiff's widow claimed the crane malfunctioned causing a fatality.

Successfully resolved a claim against a real estate agent for failure to disclose a known conflict during dual representation including allegations of consumer fraud and forgery.