Joseph L. Forstadt has over 40 years of experience in public service and private practice, with numerous civic and legal achievements. Since joining Stroock in 1969, Mr. Forstadt has litigated many significant insurance, real estate and commercial matters, both at trial and on appeal.

For the past four years, Mr. Forstadt has been legal counsel to the Associations of Supreme Court Justices of the City and State of New York. He also continues to serve as legal counsel to the Citywide Association of Law Secretaries to Supreme Court Justices, now for more than 35 years.

Among his notable cases, Mr. Forstadt:

Was lead counsel in representing the Justices of the City and State of New York in connection with a federal constitutional challenge to the judicial selection process. In 2008, the United States Supreme Court reversed an earlier decision by the Second Circuit and upheld the constitutionality of the "convention" system for the political parties' nominations for New York State Supreme Court elections.

Acted as lead counsel in the landmark decision by New York’s highest court that adopted the Economic Loss Doctrine, which holds that recovery for economic damages arising out of negligent acts cannot be recovered without physical injury or property damage. The decision arose from Mr. Forstadt’s representation of a property owner and construction manager in defeating three class actions that sought recovery for the incalcuable economic losses that resulted from the closing of midtown Manhattan because of the collapse of the construction scaffolding at a 50-story office building under construction there. The case is a seminal one in the Law of Torts and is taught widely in law schools.

Was lead counsel in overturning the constitutionality of a local law that compelled property owners to preserve Single Room Occupancy (SRO) buildings, which would have precluded the redevelopment of those properties throughout New York City. This is one of the seminal cases on the Law of Takings in the State of New York. The decision played a critical role in the resurgence of real estate development in New York City. Represented a major office building owner in an arbitration brought by a primary office tenant who sought to prevent the owner from erecting a giant outdoor electronic sign on its building in New York’s Times Square, which affected the tenant’s views on ten of the 17 floors demised to it. Expedited arbitration led to the owner’s victory and erection of the sign in time to celebrate the Millennium on New Year’s Eve in Times Square.

Had the rare opportunity to bring to fruition a project he undertook for New York City while Commissioner of Consumer Affairs more than 35 years ago when he sought to move the City’s historic Fulton Fish Market to the Hunt’s Point Food Center in the Bronx. In 1996, Mr. Forstadt was retained by numerous wholesale fish dealers in the Fulton Fish Market to assist them in navigating new licensing laws affecting market employment and thereafter for all wholesalers in negotiating a 49-year lease with the City for the occupancy of the new state-of-the-art Fish Market at Hunts Point. The move of the 167-year-old Market from lower Manhattan to the Bronx in 2005 made it the largest market of its kind in the world. Mr. Forstadt’s role was widely covered in the press and he was featured in a 2007 full-length documentary about the Fulton Fish Market entitled Up at Lou’s Fish.

Defeated a class action suit brought under the Magnuson Moss Warranty Improvement Act against a then major auto manufacturer that would have compelled the recall and repurchase of every affected sports utility vehicle it sold during a four-year period, saving our client billions of dollars of liability.

Defeated class action certification in a case against a major U.S. reinsurance corporation. If certified, the nationwide class would have exposed our client to hundreds of millions of dollars in liability and plaintiffs’ substantial legal fees and expenses.

Persuaded New York’s highest court (overturning two lower courts) to adopt the legal principle that a child molester is not entitled to coverage under a liability insurance policy or to claim legal defense costs for civil claims of sexual abuse or sexual assault.

After law school graduation in 1964, Mr. Forstadt, who is a lifelong New Yorker, served in City and State governmental posts. He was Staff Counsel to Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s Citizen’s Commission on Reapportionment of the New York State Legislature. Mr. Forstadt was later appointed by New York State Supreme Court Justice William C. Hecht, Jr. as Special Legal Counsel and Law Assistant to the Board of Justices, Supreme Court of New York, First Department, where he served from 1965-1967.

In January 1967, New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay asked Mr. Forstadt to join his administration as Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Licenses. A year later, the Mayor appointed Mr. Forstadt, then age 28, Acting Commissioner of the Department, where he oversaw its merger with another agency to become the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. Mr. Forstadt served as Acting Commissioner of Consumer Affairs while simultaneously functioning as chief negotiator and administrator of the leasing and construction of the expanded Hunts Point Food Center. He relocated and built facilities for the Brook Avenue Meat Market, the Fruit Auction, Vita Foods and Krasdale Foods, among others. Mr. Forstadt’s role was expanded upon his appointment in mid-1969 as Assistant Administrator of the New York City Economic Development Administration with additional responsibility for the redevelopment of the City’s waterfront and port facilities. The creation of the Department of Consumer Affairs and the expansion of the Hunts Point Food Center are considered amongst the major achievements of the Lindsay Administration.

Mr. Forstadt’s public service continued part-time after joining Stroock as an associate in November 1969. From 1970 to 1976, Mr. Forstadt served as special advisor on the Rent Stabilization Law to New York City Mayors Lindsay and Beame, and under Mayors Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani served as an Owners’ Representative on the New York City Rent Guidelines Board for 14 years. From 2001 to 2002, Mr. Forstadt was a Public Member of the New York City Housing Court Advisory Council.

Mr. Forstadt became a partner at Stroock on January 1, 1976.

Memberships

American Judicature Society; Federal Bar Council; American Trial Lawyers Association; Weinfeld Fellow, NYU Law School; AV Rated Attorney, Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory

Activities

Special Trial Counsel, Disciplinary Committee, Appellate Division, First Department

Arbitrator, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York

Author, Discovery in Arbitration, ADR and the Law (20th Ed., American Arbitration Association and Fordham Law School)

Lecturer and Author, Title Insurance Litigation, Practising Law Institute, 1993, 1994

Co-author of chapters, Dealing With the Government, and Product Liability Considerations, in Handbook of Management For the Growing Business (Von Nostrand Reinhold, 1986)

Lecturer, Trial Practice, New York County Lawyers Association, Continuing Legal Education Program on Trial Practice, 1977-1979

Honored with the Brotherhood Award by the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Lawyers Division, June 1987; Honored by the Collegium of Law Secretaries and Law Assistants, First Department, as a Lawyer’s Lawyer, 1999; Honored by the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York for his learned counsel, 2006; Honorary Member, Associations of Supreme Court Justices of the City and State of New York, 2008

Admitted to Practice

New York, 1965; U.S. Supreme Court, 1968

Education

LL.B., New York University, 1964; Phi Alpha Delta; Weinfeld Fellow; Judge Jacob Markowitz Scholar; Benjamin F. Butler Memorial Prize

B.A., City College of the City University of New York, 1961