Mitchell J. Geller is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group of Holland & Knight's New York office. His practice focuses on commercial, corporate and real estate litigation, including contract disputes, indemnity claims, misrepresentation and fraud claims, antitrust and securities litigation, professional malpractice claims, and trade secret and restrictive covenant disputes. Mr. Geller has particular experience in breach of loan commitment and lender liability cases, issues of "fair value" under Section 1118 of the New York Business Corporation Law, contractual indemnity claims arising from the acquisition or sale of companies, partnership and shareholder disputes, antitrust matters and issues arising from law firm dissolutions. Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Geller was a litigation partner at Gilbert, Segall and Young LLP and Shea & Gould.
Mr. Geller has represented clients primarily in the federal and state courts in New York. Of particular significance, Mr. Geller represented Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America in their state and federal actions against Olympia & York arising out of Olympia & York's anticipatory breach of loan commitment agreements. He obtained an $80 million judgment in favor of TIAA against Olympia & York.
Other representative cases include the following: S.O. Textiles v. A&E Products Group and Tyco International Ltd., 18 F.Supp.2d 232 (E.D.N.Y. 1998) (successful defense of action involving alleged antitrust violations under the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act, breach of contract, fraud, and tortious interference with contract claims); Chase Manhattan Bank, individually and as Agent for the Lenders v. RSR Corp. (Supreme Court, New York Co, March 15, 2002) (summary judgment awarded to lenders on monies owed by borrowers under $20 million Credit Agreement); Volo Logistics, LLC v. Varig Logistica, S.A., 51 A.D.3d 554, 859 N.Y.S.2d 127 (1st Dep't 2008) (Appellate Division reversed lower court order and held that claims were subject to arbitration provision); Goldwasser v. Geller, 279 A.D.2d 297, 718 N.Y.S.2d 349 (1st Dep't 2001) (dismissal after trial of claims for contractual indemnity and common law indemnity); Mandel v. Grunfeld, 138 A.D.2d 982, 526 N.Y.S.2d 875 (1st Dep't 1988) (dismissal after trial of plaintiff's claims arising from dissolution of law partnership); Westchester Religious Institute v. Kamerman, 262 A.D.2d 131, 691 N.Y.S.2d 502 (1st Dep't 1999) (nonprofit organization entitled to accounting by former officers and trustees for 20-year period of their tenure); Vacco v. Apollo Theatre Foundation (defended Apollo Theatre Foundation in investigation brought by New York State Attorney General); PB Constructors, Inc. v. IdleAire Technologies Corp. (Sup. Ct. New York Co. 2007) (court held that broad arbitration provision required arbitration of all claims and stayed claims of non-signatory pending the outcome of arbitration); Matter of EGA, Associates, Inc, Matter of First Ave. Village Corp. (Sup. Ct. New York Co. 2008) (court denied petitioner's demand for bond of $50 million in "fair value" proceedings); Potomac Realty Capital LLC v. Sagamore Fund 1, LLC (Sup. Ct. Westchester Co. 2009) (summary judgment denied to real estate lender in foreclosure proceeding on grounds that borrower raised triable issues of fact regarding the good faith and reasonableness of the lender in declaring a default).
He was Articles Editor of the Environmental Affairs Law Review at Boston College Law School.