Mr. LaGattuta began his career representing plaintiffs in personal injury and medical malpractice cases with a well-known plaintiff’s negligence firm during which time, he gained valuable trial experience and achieved numerous verdicts, awards, and settlements on behalf of the firm’s diverse clientele.

Mr. LaGattuta began his career representing plaintiffs in personal injury and medical malpractice cases with a well-known plaintiff’s negligence firm during which time, he gained valuable trial experience and achieved numerous verdicts, awards, and settlements on behalf of the firm’s diverse clientele. Thereafter, Mr. LaGattuta began working at Fixler & Associates, LLP, an established insurance defense firm located in New York City and Westchester County, New York, where he continued to build on his trial experience by defending individuals and corporations in all types of personal injury, malpractice, and insurance coverage matters.  He obtained extensive experience in the state trial and appellate courts, with emphasis on, professional liability (including medical malpractice), property damage and personal injury defense litigation, primarily in the areas of automobile, premises, construction, petroleum, and products liability.

Mr. LaGattuta’s practice of defending various property owners in premises liability claims has evolved into the representation of clients in real estate related litigation with a concentration on cooperatives and condominiums.  He regularly handles a wide variety of construction defect, labor law, toxic exposure, mold and general commercial and corporate-law cases as well as the defense of breach of fiduciary duty and discrimination claims, including those against cooperative and condominium boards and their individual members.  He has also defended various architects and engineers for alleged design and construction defects.  He also provides general counseling to the boards and managing agents of the firm’s cooperative and condominium clients on a wide-range of matters.  Mr. LaGattuta has litigated or arbitrated matters involving cooperative shareholder disputes, commercial lease disputes, tort and contract actions and construction disputes.

Mr. LaGattuta’s has also successfully defended and tried cases involving inadequate security, animal attacks, elevator malfunctions; restaurant liability, inclusive of food poisoning and Dram Shop claims construction site accidents (inclusive of claims involving New York State’s Labor Law and related indemnity and insurance procurement obligations), cases involving petroleum transportation and deliveries (ie. New York Navigation Law claims), and third-party motor vehicle accident claims on behalf of self-insureds and commercial automobile policyholders.  Additionally, he has successfully tried cases involving the “serious injury” threshold required in motor vehicle action pursuant to Insurance Law § 5102(d).