Sebastian D’Acunto spoke to members of “Event Professionals in Connecticut” (EPIC), a business networking group located in Fairfield County.  The presentation centered on the effective use of contractual language in services agreements to limit risk exposure.  Items covered ranged from structuring payment and performance terms and waivers, to force majeure, limitation of liability and indemnification issues.  The presentation was followed by an energetic Q & A session.

Samples of COVID disclaimer provisions can be found here.

We are pleased to congratulate our Managing Partner and senior litigator, Mark Carta, for winning one of the 2020 Professional Excellence Awards given by the Connecticut Law Tribune.  Mark was selected as one of the “Best Mentors” in the state.

Sebastian D’Acunto has become a partner of the firm, effective January 1, 2020.

Sebastian joined the Firm in September 2017 and has significantly expanded the scope of services we offer and will continue to develop the Firm’s growing Trusts & Estates practice.  Sebastian’s practice also focuses on Real Estate and Business Transactions.

Sebastian is admitted in Connecticut and New York.  He is a dual citizen of the United States and the Republic of Italy and is fluent in Italian.  He was born and raised in Stamford, and spent some of his formative years in Scauri, Italy.  He currently resides in Ridgefield with his wife and daughter.

Mark Carta, CMM’s managing partner, attended the fall 2019 LEGUS meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, where he gave a presentation on law firm succession planning to attorneys from twenty-five states and ten countries. LEGUS is an international network of A-rated law firms that provides access to more than 2,500 lawyers in the United States and internationally. CMM has been a member of LEGUS since the firm was formed, and is the only member from the state of Connecticut.

Through the third quarter of 2019, Glen Moore, Sebastian D’Acunto and the real estate team at Carta, McAlister & Moore have assisted their clients with residential and commercial transactions totaling more than a quarter billion dollars.  These ranged from first-time home buyers purchasing a condominium to many multi-million dollar transactions.  The largest of these was a residential purchase of over 10 million dollars, one of the largest in Darien this year.

Margaret Triolo joined the Board of Directors of the New Canaan YMCA in September of 2018.  She currently serves as a member of the Executive, Governance and Endowment Committees.

CMM litigation counsel, Mark Carta and Margaret Triolo, recently won a construction arbitration award in excess of $450,000.  CMM represented a homeowner against a local New Home Construction Contractor in a hearing that lasted three days and involved the testimony of seven witnesses.  The AAA arbitrator found that the contractor  had submitted multiple improper change orders, had been paid a sum that grossly exceeded the value of its services, and had ultimately abandoned the project.

CMM successfully represented the Executor of an Estate in a strenuously contested Will contest.  The Probate Court admitted the Will of a CMM client to probate over objections by the decedent’s daughter and adult grandchildren.  The Will was challenged on the grounds of undue influence and mental incapacity.  After extensive discovery, a four-day hearing and post-hearing briefing, in August 2019 the Probate Court upheld the decedent’s wishes regarding the disposition of her assets and admitted the Will.  The Executor was also awarded attorney’s fees and costs.

CMM is pleased to announce that effective this Fall 2019, Mark Carta has been asked to be one of the United States representatives on the Advisory Board of LEGUS.

Sebastian D’Acunto spoke on estate and tax planning and probate administration on February 7, 2019 to employees of Memry Corporation in Bethel, CT.  The seminar was organized by the Danbury office of Mutual Security Credit Union in cooperation with the Human Resources Department of Memry Corporation.

Mark Carta is a Member of the Silvermine’s Executive Committee of the Silvermine’s School of Arts in New Canaan, CT.

Consistent with CMM’s commitment to protect our clients’ confidential and proprietary information, the attorneys and entire staff completed a seminar on March 20, 2018 on the latest developments in cyber risk.

In November of 2017, Mark Carta attended the annual meeting of LEGUS in New Mexico and was asked to be the United State representative to the international network’s “Employment Law Affinity Group.” LEGUS is an international network of A-rated law firms that provides access to over 2,500 lawyers world-wide. CMM is honored to be Connecticut’s only LEGUS member. www.LEGUS.com

We are pleased to welcome Sebastian D’Acunto to CMM. Sebastian’s practice will focus on Estate Planning and Administration.  He will also continue performing real estate and business transactions.  Sebastian is admitted in Connecticut and New York.

Immediately prior to joining CMM, he ran the Stamford office of Dolgetta Law, PLLC, and prior to that he was the principal of the D’Acunto Law Firm and a partner at D’Acunto & Sandor, LLP in Stamford.

Sebastian is a dual citizen of the United States and the Republic of Italy and is fluent in Italian.

He was born and raised in Stamford, but spent many of his formative years in Scauri, Italy. He currently resides in Ridgefield with his wife and daughter.

Mark Carta spoke on September 27, 2017 at the Senior Executive Round Table for C-Suite Executives in Stamford, CT.  He addressed questions relating to executive employment contracts and severance negotiations.  This group is organized and run by Linda Van Valkenburgh, “My Executive Career Coach.”

July 15, 2017 – Darcy McAlister and Mark Carta currently serve as pro bono volunteer lawyers representing undocumented minors in Connecticut’s Probate Courts.  This representation is aimed at obtaining Visas as “Special Immigration Juveniles” for their minor clients, a critical first step in their becoming U.S. citizens.

Congratulations to Mark Carta and Darcy McAlister for both being selected to the 2016 Connecticut Super Lawyers list.
Go to www.superlawyers.com to learn more about the selection process.

October 23, 2017 -Mark Carta has been elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the Silvermine Guild of Artists, Inc. in New Canaan, Connecticut. The Silvermine Arts Center, a Guild of over 300 professional artists, operates five galleries, a School of Art, and outreach programs in the Norwalk and Stamford schools.

On September 20, 2016 CMM and the New York firm of Sher Tremonte obtained an order permitting the attachment of nearly $ 6.5 million in assets in a matter pending on the complex litigation docket of the Stamford Superior Court. Sher Tremonte lawyers, together with Margaret Triolo of CMM, represented the plaintiff, a former member and officer of a Westport-based LLC. The plaintiff brought claims of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty against his former partners. Following a five-day evidentiary hearing, the Honorable Robert Genuario held that our client had established probable cause to believe that he would prevail on his claims and that he was entitled to a prejudgment remedy freezing the partnership’s assets.

Please see article on Law360 at http://www.law360.com/articles/700084/2nd-circ-says-ibm-didn-t-do-benched-executive-any-favors

As the Connecticut member of the international network of A-rated law firms known as LEGUS,  Mark Carta of Carta McAlister & Moore is leading a discussion among the members’ managing partners entitled: “ Marketing and Marketing Budgets.” More information about this select group of law firms and the LEGUS organization is available at www.leguslaw.com

Mark Carta and Margaret Triolo spoke at the May 18th meeting of the Employment Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association about the anatomy of an age discrimination claim.  Their presentation focused on the use of Motions in Limine and the recovery of damages.  In addition, they discussed the procedure and benefits of their use of a mock jury in preparing for a civil rights discrimination trial.

In an article entitled “Survey of Development in Labor and Employment Law” that appeared in the 2015 year end issue of the Connecticut Bar Journal (Vol. 89, No. 2), there is an extensive discussion of the age discrimination verdict won by Mark Carta and Margaret Triolo-Riley against IBM.

Mark Carta gave a presentation on Discrimination & Retaliation Claims – A Crash Course in Employment Litigation at the Fairfield County Bar Association. The presentation included topics such as an explanation of common discrimination claims brought by current and former employees and a primer on retaliation and whistleblower claims and how to guard against and respond to them.

The United States District Court issued a 38-page opinion on July 23rd affirming a jury’s Age Discrimination verdict won by Attorney Mark Carta on behalf of a former IBM executive. After analyzing and denying each of the defendant IBM’s flurry of post-trial motions, the Court directed that a Final Judgment in the amount of $3,718,920.78 be entered in favor of the plaintiff.

Mark Carta was quoted today in a Bloomberg.com news article entitled “Old, Fired at IBM: Trendsetter Offers Workers Arbitration” that analyzed IBM’s new practice of not disclosing statistical information related to the ages and positions of employed who have been dismissed and requiring that such employees agree to arbitrate all future claims as part of IBM’s standard severance agreement. Link to the article:
http://bloom.bg/SSVEvO

CMM attorneys recently won a jury verdict valued at over $3.6 million against IBM. Mark Carta and Margaret Triolo of CMM obtained this verdict on behalf of a former IBM executive on an age discrimination claim. Following a two week trial in the United States District Court in Hartford, the jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of the plaintiff. The jury found that the plaintiff – an IBM employee of 41 years – had been discriminated against in violation of both the United States Age Discrimination in Employment Act and New York State Human Rights Law based on his age. In addition, based on the jury’s further finding that the violation of the plaintiff’s civil rights was willful, the jury awarded punitive damages and $500,000 for his emotional distress. The plaintiff stated that he could not have been more pleased with the results of CMM’s representation and that he believed the jury had completely vindicated his rights.

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