O. Peter Sherwood

Experience

Sherwood retired from the Bench in 2021 where he was a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, New York County assigned to the eight-member Commercial Division. The Commercial Division is a highly regarded branch of the Court that handles complex commercial cases - many of national and even international importance - involving business disputes exceeding $500,000. Before beginning his judicial career, he was a partner in a large national law firm where he handled complex commercial matters. He also served as Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, where he was the City’s chief legal officer and oversaw a staff of 700 lawyers. Previously, he was Assistant Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. where he litigated precedent-setting civil rights matters. He also served as Solicitor General of the State of New York overseeing and arguing appellate cases in the Federal and State courts on behalf of the State and State institutions. Since returning to private practice, he has focused his practice on service as a neutral, presiding over arbitration, mediation and other proceedings, requiring an experienced- independent and impartial decision-maker. Among other things, within the last year he has presided over several arbitration and mediations under the auspices of the American Arbitration Association, the International Center for Dispute Resolution, the International Commercial Court and Federal Arbitration, Inc. where he is a member of the commercial, construction and employment panels of arbitrators and mediators.

Work History

Retired in 2021 from the New York State Supreme Court where he sat for more than a decade as a Justice in the Commercial Division in New York County. Since then he was a Senior Counsel at Ganfer Shore & Zauderer and after that firm ceased operation in 2023, Dorf Nelson & Zauderer where he focuses on service as a neutral arbitrator, mediator and special master. Prior to joining the Bench in 2008, he was a partner for 15 years at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP where he handled complex commercial litigations. Between 1991 and 1993, Justice Sherwood was the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York where he advised the Mayor and had overall responsibility for all law business of the City and its affiliated agencies. Between 1986 and 1991, he was the Solicitor General of the State of New York, where he oversaw and argued appellate work on behalf of the State. He previously served as an Assistant Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the leading civil rights law firm in the Nation, where he handled groundbreaking cases, primarily in the federal courts He was also a Visiting Professor of Law at CUNY School of Law and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law where he taught courses on evidence, ethics, employment and civil rights.

Cases

SAMPLE COURT DECISIONS (Citations abbreviated) Securities/Corporations Good Hill Master Fund, LP v Deutsche Bank AG, 2016 NY Misc LEXIS 2317 non-jury trial alleging breach of ISDA swap agreements relating to securitization backed by $10.3 billion in residential mortgages. Panattoni Dev. Co., Inc. v Scout Fund I-A, LP, aff’d 188 AD 3d 498, after a non-jury trial, claim based on plaintiff’s purported role as investment manager for billion-dollar real estate joint venture rejected. Aba Dhabi Commercial Bank, P.J.S.C v. Credit Suisse Sec. (USA) LLL, 2011 NY Misc LEXIS 6930 aff’d 114 AD 3d 432 (1st Dept 2014). Fraudulent inducement claim concerning purported low risk collateral debt obligations. In A&F Hamilton Hghts Cluster, Inc. v Urban Green Mgt, Inc., 2018 NY Misc LEXIS 5134, aff’d 186 AD 3d 409, held minority shareholder lacks authority to bring a double derivative claim on behalf of the limited partnership. Colton v Gibber, 2016 NY Misc LEXIS 1387. Supervised protracted litigation and settlement of dispute between half-sisters who had inherited equal shares in large Manhattan apartment buildings. Schron v Grunstein, 36 Misc 3d 1238(A) (2012), aff’d 105 AD 3d 430 (1st Dept 2013). Non-jury trial for breach of contract and fraud requiring interpretation of intricate agreements and complex financial transactions to determine ownership of nursing homes valued at over $1.5 billion. Primus Pac. Partners LLP v Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 2017 NY Misc LEXIS 4359, affd 175 AD 3d 401. Breach of fiduciary duty claim arising out a claim Goldman Sachs Group and a Singapore subsidiary based investment banker whose advice to the target of an unsolicited bid by a with close ties to family of the Malaysian Prime Minister was allegedly influenced by his relationship with Prime Minster dismissed on grounds of forum non- conveniences. In a case involving residential mortgage -backed securities (RMBS), the New York Court of Appeals, following the reasoning of Justice Sherwood in a similar case, Nomura Asset Assurance Corp. Alternative Loan Trust Series 200 5-S4 v Nomura Credit & Capital, Inc., 39 Misc 3d 1226 (A), held that plaintiff’s cause of action for breach of warranty accrued when the representation was made, not when defendant refused to cure the allegedly defective mortgages (see ACE Sec. Corp. Home Equity Loan Trust, Series 2006-SL2 v. DB Structured Prods., Inc., 25 NY 3d 581, 596, n. 4 (2015). Schroeder v. Cohen, 2017 NY Misc LEXIS 4516 (NY Sup Ct, NY County, November 14, 2017) aff’d 169 AD 3d 412 (1st Dept 2019). Here Justice Sherwood granted summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s misappropriation of trade secrets and ideas claim because plaintiff failed to describe the allegedly misappropriated ideas with sufficient specificity. Linkable Networks, Inc. v. Mastercard, Inc., 2019 NY Misc LEXIS 8737 aff’d 184 AD 3d 418 (1st Dept 2020). Claims for misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, misappropriation of ideas and unjust enrichment dismissed. Getty Properties Corp. v. Lukoil Americas Corp., 2017 NY Misc LEXIS 3099 (NY Sup Ct, NY County, August 14, 2017. Court refused to dismiss complaint alleging that in order to avoid responsibility for environmental cleanup, defendant transferred nominal ownership to another entity for one dollar which over two years later, filed for bankruptcy, just after the claw-back period under the Bankruptcy Code had expired. The Court held defendants could not use the bankruptcy filing of its debtor affiliate to shield its own liability when defendant itself did not seek bankruptcy protection. Crystal Run Assoc., LLC v State of New York, 50 Misc 3d 1221(A), aff’d 167 AD 3d 764 non-jury trial to fix value of land taken by eminent domain for public infrastructure project. Insurance Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Philadelphia Indemnity Ins. Co., 2012 NY Misc LEXIS 5487 Held “Professional Services Exclusion” endorsement to D&O policies issued to plaintiff in connection with its review of pieces of art submitted to it for authentication did not apply and accordingly defendant was obligated to cover defense costs for claims alleging fraud arising out of defendants’ determinations that certain art submitted to it for authentication were not created by Andy Warhol. Sabre, Inc. v The Insurance Co. of the State of Pennsylvania, 2014 NY Misc LEXIS 3832 aff’d 149 AD 3d 589. One of many insurance coverage cases over which Justice Sherwood presided. Here, the court held that the insurer had a duty to defend plaintiffs in the underlying actions and that a conflict of interest precluded the insurer from controlling the defense. Alexander v. Starr Surplus Lines, Ins. Co., 2022 NY Misc LEXIS 461. In this case, the court granted the insured’s motion to declare that the Major Shareholder exclusion in the D&O policy applies only to major shareholders who held stock at the time the policy was issued. The court rejected the insurer’s argument that because this was a claims made policy and the shareholder who held notes at the time the policy was issued had converted the notes by the time the claim was made, the exclusion applied. Defamation Alcor Life Extension Foundation v Johnson, 43 Misc 3d 122 aff’d 136 AD 3d 464 Defamation claim against a book publisher by not-for-profit in the business of freezing cadavers in the hope that medical science will advance sufficiently for the individuals to be brought back to life, required plaintiff to show actual malice because it had thrust itself into the limelight in order to bolster its public profile as the self-described “world leader” in the field of cryonics. Legal Malpractice Red Zone, LLC v Calwalder, Wickersham & Taft LLP, 2018 NY LEXIS 2882. Legal malpractice suit arising out of the acquisition of the Six Flags amusement park. Melcher v. Greenberg Traurig LLP, 2017 NY Misc LEXIS aff’d as modified in the court’s discretion, 164 AD 3d 1171. In N.Y. Judiciary Law §487(1) claim, potential damages available against attorney for deceit on the Court, limited to excess of legal costs incurred in the underlying action that were proximately caused by the deceit. Binn v Muchnick Gotlieb & Gotlieb P.C., 2019 NY Misc LEXIS 928, aff’d 180 AD 3d 598 Legal malpractice case dismissed as documentary evidence showed plaintiffs were advised of the terms of the transaction that resulted in loss of plaintiffs’ majority interest in a chain of airport spas. Razinski v Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, 2019 NY Misc LEXIS 6170. Where proof showed that the property in the underlying case was sold, not mortgaged, the alleged failure of counsel to introduce evidence of released liens was not malpractice. Class Actions M/O Empire State Bldg Assoc. v LLC Participant Litigation, 2014 NY Misc LEXIS 3246 (NY Sup Ct, NY County 2014), aff’d 133 AD 3d 538 (1st Dept 2015). Claims of minority “Participants” of the entity that owned the Empire State Building sought to block an initial public offering involving the iconic building barred by the terms of an earlier class action settlement that contained a covenant not to sue. Employment Creative Circle LLC v Norelle-Bortone, NY Misc LEXIS 2168 Employer sued former employees and their new employer for breach of noncompetition and confidentiality agreements, unfair competition and other business torts. In Veronis Suhler Stevenson Holdings, LLC v. Cole, 2015 NY Misc LEXIS 2302. Summary judgment dismissing six of eight causes of actions brought by a private equity firm against senior investment professionals who resigned rather than sign a new employment agreement containing strict confidentiality and non-competition rules. Commercial Contracts In Neumann v. Sotheby’s, Inc., 209 NY Misc LEXIS 837. Whether there was an enforceable contract between plaintiff and Sotheby’s requiring Sotheby’s to obtain his approval to sell valuable art from family collection where the piece to be actioned, “Flesh and Spirit” by “graffiti artist” Jean-Michael Basquiat, was being consigned by the executor of the estate that owned the art and if so, whether the executor could sell it through Sotheby’s. Stonehill Capital Mgt. LLC v. Bank of The West, 2014 NY Misc LEXIS 1345, 127 AD 3d 429, rev’d 26 NY 3d 439. One of many breach of contract cases involving complex commercial transactions decided by Justice Sherwood. Here Justice Sherwood rejected a claim that the parties did not have a binding agreement under the terms of a pre-negotiated auction sale of a syndicated loan portfolio because the signed agreement was “subject to” execution of a loan sale agreement. The Appellate Division reversed holding that the “subject to language…clearly expresses an intent not to be bound to the sale…”. The Court of Appeals reversed holding that Justice Sherwood was correct in holding that the “subject to” language was not a clear expression that the parties intended not to be bound to consummate the sale. Ariflex Indus., Inc. v Pabco Constr. Corp., 2019 NY Misc 5731. Quasi-contract claims by subcontractor against the developer for delay and extra work dismissed because the subject matter of the claim was governed by an enforceable written contract. NOTABLE CASES AS ADVOCATE In Bd. of Trustees v. Fox, 488 US 815(1988), the Court established a new standard governing First Amendment protection of business speech. In Local 28, Sheet Metal Workers v. EEOC, the Court held that neither the 14th Amendment nor Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars courts from imposition of race-conscious remedies in appropriate cases. In Baker v. City of Detroit, 483 F. Supp 930 aff’d 704 F 2d 878,successfully defended race-conscious measures implemented by the City of Detroit to remedy prior employment discrimination in its police department and to address racial tensions between police and city residents. As a part of a program designed to implement the then recently enacted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and provide black factory workers access to better paying jobs, successfully prosecuted several class actions challenging seniority systems that locked in pre-Act job assignment policies thereby perpetuating the effects of prior racial segregation Successfully litigated class actions to require construction labor unions to admit racial minorities into its apprenticeship program and to require a major New York newspaper to open delivery driver jobs to minority workers. Negotiated class action settlement of involving civil service promotion exam to New York State Corrections Lieutenant and successfully defended race-conscious remedial order against intervenor challenge Successfully defended university from tort liability for admitting parolee who while enrolled as a student, murdered a co-ed. New York Court of Appeals held university had no duty to restrict parolee’s activities or to warn other students his past incarceration.

Training

Served on many CLE panels relating to arbitration, mediation, trial strategies and more.

License(s)

Admitted New York (1972).  U.S. Supreme Court (1975)  U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (1974)  U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (1974)  U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York (2004)  U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit (1974)  U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit (1974)  U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit (1974)  U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit (1979)  U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit (1975)  U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (1981)

Education

Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (1968); New York University School of Law (1971).

Panels

American Arbitration Association, International Center for Dispute Resolution Commercial, Construction and Employment arbitration and mediation panels; FedArb arbitration and mediation panels.

Associations

Founding member of the Commercial Division Advisory Counsel and co-chair of the Subcommittee on the Role of The Commercial Division in the Court System. Fellow of the National Courts and Science Institute; Fellow of the Advanced Science & Technology Adjudication Resource (ASTAR) which serves as a resource for judges.