OVERVIEW

 

Michael J. Smikun, Esq., is a Partner in the Healthcare, Commercial and Business Litigation Practice Group at Callagy Law.

Michael’s litigation practice spans complex commercial litigation, healthcare and ERISA litigation, business and contract disputes, shareholder litigation involving claims of fraud and breaches of fiduciary duties, whistleblower actions, employment discrimination and construction litigation. His litigation experience, in both federal and state courts, includes arbitrations, mediations, trials, and appeals.  His commercial practice experience includes an expertise in resolving disputes involving statutory and contract claims, shareholder, partnership and limited liability company member actions, employment law disputes, director and officer liability, foreclosure and lender liability matters, as well as construction, employment and insurance disputes.

 

While in law school, Michael won the Seton Hall Law School Mock Trial Competition and competed in the American Association for Justice and American Trial Lawyers Association Student Trial Advocacy Competitions. Michael also competed in the 2007 Eugene Gressman Moot Court Competition and was awarded Best Petitioner Brief in that competition.  He was also a founding member of the Seton Hall Interscholastic Mock Trial Advocacy Team.

 

Michael’s Representative Achievements at Callagy Law:

• Successfully obtaining a $27,650,000 jury verdict in one of the largest jury verdicts in the State of Arizona for 2016. The jury also awarded over $15 million in punitive damages. (Wichansky v. Zowine, et al.)

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• Successfully obtaining a jury verdict of over $33,000,000 million for his institutional lender client.  The jury also awarded over $8 million in punitive damages. This was in addition to numerous pre-verdict settlements ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to multiple million dollar settlements. (Prussin v. Sheldon, et al.).

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• In a published decision, successfully overturned a United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit resulting in the expansion of contractual limitations periods to six years from periods as short as one year if the administrator fails to strictly follow the ERISA guidelines. (Mirza v. Insurance Administrator of America, Inc., et al.).

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• Successfully recovering over $500,000.00 in employment discrimination matters in the year 2015 alone.

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• Managed Callagy Law’s Workers’ Compensation Practice Group, which included day-to-day oversight of multiple attorneys, paralegals and legal assistants, case management and strategy on thousands of Medical Provider Applications that resulted in over $30 million in recoveries since 2010.

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• Served as a panelist for the New Jersey Division of Labor’s task-force on disputes involving medical provider applications.

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• Litigating a week-long trial regarding the valuation of a holding company which generated over $40 million in yearly revenues that resulted in a multi-million dollar judgment in favor of his client.

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• In a white-collar fraud case, obtaining summary judgment against a Defendant for violating the New Jersey Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”).

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• Worked in conjunction with various governmental and regulatory agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Attorneys’ Office, the United States Department of Labor, various state Attorney General’s Offices and state Departments of Labor, Banking and Insurance in investigating white-collar fraud cases which resulted in the prosecution and convictions of various individuals.