ZS Secures Federal Jury Verdict

On March 3, 2024, the team of Attorney David B. Zabel and co-counsel secured a federal jury verdict in favor of their clients in The NF&W Cooke L.P. et al. v. Shapiro et al. In this matter, the Plaintiffs were a party to an option contract with Costco to develop a new facility in Branford, Connecticut, pending municipal approvals. The Plaintiffs sued the town’s Director of the Inland Wetlands Agency and the Chairman of the Inland Wetland Commission for, among other things, tortious interference with the option contract. Attorney Zabel and co-counsel presented the Plaintiffs’ case that the defendants tortiously interfered with the options contract by sabotaging a wetlands application made by Costco to the commission when they improperly and surreptitiously made a series of alterations to a peer review report that was being prepared for the Commission by an independent engineering firm. The federal jury agreed and awarded the plaintiffs’ punitive damages in the total amount of $203,181.42.