Dean G. Yuzek is a partner in the Firm’s Litigation Practice. With over 30 years of experience, Dean is a highly regarded litigator throughout the industry.
Throughout his career, Dean has handled high-profile litigation matters, some of which have set precedent for case law. A seasoned litigator with a breadth of experience in all types of civil disputes, Dean represents owners and developers of commercial and residential properties, lending institutions, named executive officers and managing members of corporations and companies, high-net-worth individuals and their business interests, and partnerships across the professional services industry.
Dean advocates on behalf of clients in state and federal courts, in New York and across the country, as well as arbitrations in numerous forums. He represents clients in the areas of trials and appeals, business divorce, partnership disputes, and corporate law.
Education
- New York University (J.D.)
- Brandeis University (B.A., magna cum laude)
Bar Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
- New York
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Professional Affiliations
- Board of Directors and Trustee, The Foundation for Gender-Specific Medicine
Awards & Honors
- New York Super Lawyers, 2006-2007, 2013 -2025
- AV-Preeminent Rated, Martindale-Hubbell
Representative Experience
- Represented Claimant Pangea Capital Management, LLC, which received a 180-page Arbitration Award released by JAMS on January 4, 2016, rendered by Hon. Stephen G. Crane (Ret.), awarding Pangea damages against Respondent John R. Lakian, Pangea's Co-Managing Member, for his "racketeering activities," his "scheme to defraud and pillage" Pangea and his "rampant self-dealing," in the amounts of $11,972,408 for violating the RICO statute, $2,842,500 for fraud, $1,000,000 for punitive damages on fraud claims and $3,310,484 for breach of fiduciary duty, plus interest and all arbitration costs.
Mr. Lakian, a sometime "talking head" on Fox Business News, had made unsuccessful bids to run for governor of Massachusetts in 1982 and for the U.S. Senate in 1994, losing the Republican nomination for the Senate to Mitt Romney. Articles about this award have appeared, among other places, in The Boston Globe and Securities Law360. By Order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, dated November 9, 2016, the Arbitration Award was confirmed in its entirety.
- Represented Level 3 Communications, LLC in securing a judgment requiring the City of Mount Vernon, its Appointed Assessor, and the Mount Vernon City Council to refund over $2.5 million of excessive taxes imposed on Level 3's special franchise property. The Judgment was entered following successful proceedings at the Appellate Division, Second Department, reported at 72 A.D. 3d 164, 895 N.Y.S. 2d 110.
- Represented the owner of a landmark building as the plaintiff in this precedent-setting case, through a successful jury verdict in New York State Court and subsequent appeals. This established for the first time in New York the right of an insured, even though adequately covered against compensatory claims, to recover against an insurance company for its bad-faith refusal to settle where the policyholder was unnecessarily (and wrongfully) exposed to the possibility of a punitive damage award. See Ansonia Associates Limited Partnership v. Public Service Mutual Insurance Co., 257 A.D.2d 84, 692 N.Y.S.2d 5 (lst Dept) and 277 A.D.2d 98, 717 N.Y.S.2d 30 (1st Dept), aff’d 96 N.Y.2d 715, 729 N.Y.S.2d 668.
- Represented a former named executive officer of a multi-billion-dollar corporation in a breach of contract action against his former employer in Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York. The facts of this complex case are reported at Steinfeld v. IMS Health Inc., 10-CV-3301 (CS), 2011 WL 11779019.
- Represented a New York bank wrongly accused of fraud in connection with the sale of mortgage-backed securities. This multi-million dollar claim against the bank in New York State Court (New York County) was discontinued in the midst of trial, before the conclusion of plaintiff’s direct case, following cross-examination of its key party and non-party witnesses.
- Represented MBNA, now part of Bank of America, as the defendant in Americasting Inc. v. MBNA America Bank, N.A. (04 civ. 07695), an “all-or-nothing” $27 million contract case, through a successful jury verdict before Judge P. Kevin Castel, in Federal Court (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York), involving a failed “affinity” credit-card program. (No reported decision as verdict was not appealed by plaintiff.)
