Thomas Kelly has extensive experience representing hedge funds, private equity firms, real estate developers, tech companies, non-profits, municipalities and individuals in a broad range of complex commercial litigation matters. Tom’s practice includes cutting-edge technology matters and high-stakes commercial disputes. He brings a creative, results-driven, strategic approach to his clients’ most complicated legal problems. Tom has litigated in state and federal courts across the country and participated in confidential arbitrations on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants.
Work Highlights
- Andrew Wang and Shou-Kung Wang in defense of $200 million RICO and breach of fiduciary duty claims arising out of the decades-long battle over the estate of C.C. Wang, an esteemed artist and collector of Classical Chinese artwork, who was Andrew’s grandfather and Shou-Kung’s father. Tom led the defense of the Wangs which culminated in a highly successful settlement of one of the most complex art law disputes in recent years.
- BD Hotels and Chelsea Hotel Owner LLC, owners of the iconic Hotel Chelsea, in successfully ending a two-year dispute with New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation Development prompted by a vocal minority of hostile tenants objecting to the redevelopment of the historic hotel. After finding crucial evidence of an HPD exemption in the Department of Building’s files during an on-going trial against HPD -- that HPD had failed to turn over in discovery -- that undercut HPD’s jurisdiction over the building, and after seeking emergency relief from the trial court demanding the immediate dismissal of HPD’s case, HPD conceded by voluntarily dismissing its lawsuit and the Department of Buildings instantly lifted a stop work order that had stalled construction for more than two years.
- Calverton Aviation & Technology (CAT), a subsidiary of Triple Five Worldwide, in a lawsuit against the Town of Riverhead in Long Island, NY, Riverhead’s Community Development Agency and the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency, alleging that Riverhead and its agencies engaged in a scheme to evade Riverhead’s contractual obligation to sell 1,643 acres of property to CAT.
- Investors in an action against Bank of America arising out of failed residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) underwritten by Countrywide Home Loans.
- The Related Companies in a dispute related to the Hudson Yards development.
- National Grid in an action against a software vendor stemming from a $1 billion implementation of SAP software.
- Sugar Hill Capital Partners in litigation related to the highly publicized purchase of the former Prospect Park Residence in Brooklyn.
- MBIA, one of the world’s largest monoline insurers, in litigation brought by 18 of the world’s largest banks seeking to overturn MBIA’s corporate restructuring which, with the approval of the New York Department of Insurance, established a separate company for MBIA’s municipal bond insurance business. After a several-week evidentiary proceeding, the New York Supreme Court upheld MBIA’s restructuring, and MBIA received $1.7 billion in cash and a $500 million line of credit for its municipal bond insurance business.
- Muirfield Capital Management in a commercial defamation case brought against the company and its president.
- Seven foreign municipalities in a fraud and negligent misrepresentation action against subsidiaries of a national bank, concerning the sale and marketing of derivative products.
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