Area of Practice: Commercial Litigation; Trust & Estate Litigation & Administration Brian Lacoff, as a partner at Stagg Wabnik Law Group, focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, transactional work, and trust and estate litigation and administration. He represents clients in New York and New Jersey federal and state courts and is admitted to practice in the federal court of Connecticut. In 2015, Superlawyers named Brian to the New York Metro Rising Stars list. The Rising Stars list is an honor reserved for those lawyers who exhibit excellence in practice and is awarded to up-and-coming attorneys 40 years old or younger. Brian has represented the firm's banking and corporate clients in connection with Uniform Commercial Code matters, federal and state consumer credit statutes and regulations, safe deposit box litigation, and trusts and estate litigation. In addition to complex litigation matters, Brian focuses on trust administration and has negotiated numerous purchase and sale contracts and partnership agreements for the firm's corporate and private clients. ?Brian has been certified as a guardian ad litem by New York State. In addition, he has volunteered with the American Bar Association's Military Pro Bono Project, a program that assists active-duty military personnel and their families with civil legal issues. ? After graduating magna cum laude from the State University of New York, University at Albany, with a degree in Criminal Justice and Psychology, Brian earned his J.D. from St. John's University School of Law. At St.John's, Brian was a senior American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review staff member. Brian is a member of the state and federal bars of New York and New Jersey and the United States District Court, District of Connecticut.

Charles J. Laduca’s tenure at the firm began over twenty-four years ago as a messenger working his way through college. He rose from messenger to paralegal to law clerk to attorney to be named partner, within just four years of graduating law school. As of January 1, 2017, Mr. LaDuca assumed the role of firm chairman. Over the past eighteen years, Charles LaDuca has served as Lead Counsel, or in the leadership structure, in dozens of defective building products and consumer cases. To date, his cases have recovered over $2 billion for Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca’s clients. Mr. LaDuca’s most noted achievement has been to use the legal system to help millions of homeowners obtain compensation to fix their homes after suffering from flawed, leaky roofs, faulty plumbing, and defective siding. Specific examples of Mr. LaDuca’s accomplishments include: Mr. LaDuca was co-lead counsel in the efforts of homeowners with heating systems outfitted with “Entran II” piping, which the homeowners believed were defective. After a fifteen month investigation, and having overcome motions to dismiss, Mr. LaDuca forged a North American settlement under which homeowners on average each received $60,000 to fix their homes. This $364 million settlement came about as a result of aggressive litigation by Mr. LaDuca’s team against the defendant and other homeowner lawyers that involved two “All Writs” injunctions. Serving as co-lead counsel, Mr. LaDuca represented homeowners who purchased Ipex brass fittings that turned out to be defective. The case has allowed thousands of home owners to recover thousands of dollars each in compensation for their losses. The total fund for homeowners’ compensation is $125 million, and the claims period is still pending for another five years. In his largest case, Mr. LaDuca was co-lead counsel representing owners of over 1.8 million homes who purchased CertainTeed roofing shingles that the homeowners believed were defective. And thanks to Mr. LaDuca’s determined legal work, more than 75,000 homeowners to date have recovered up to thousands of dollars each. As a result of Mr. LaDuca’s efforts, the claims period will continue for another twenty-three years. The estimated value of the settlement exceeds $700 million. Mr. LaDuca was the Chair of the Executive Committee in the Zurn defective brass fitting litigation. After the plaintiff’s team certified the national class, the defendants appealed unsuccessfully all the way to the Supreme Court. The case settled for roughly $30 million. The Final Approval was granted in March, 2013. Mr. LaDuca served as co-lead counsel in the GAF roof shingles litigation which was consolidated before Judge Childs in South Carolina. He represented homeowners who believe their roof shingles were defective. The plaintiffs successfully beat back 14 Motions to Dismiss and certified a South Carolina class. The case then settled for over $200 million. The settlement claims period is ongoing. Please contact Charles LaDuca at [email protected] more details. Mr. LaDuca is co-lead counsel in a case which represents homeowners with Owens Corning roof shingles, which the homeowners believe are defective. The court initially granted judgment for Owens Corning, and Mr. LaDuca’s team won reversal in a federal appeals court. Discovery is ongoing. Mr. LaDuca and his family are active in the community, especially in helping to repair, rebuild and raise money for better homes for the disadvantaged. Mr. LaDuca’s charitable contributions have included his support for education programs for under-resourced children in third world countries such as Ethiopia and Sierra Leone. Mr. LaDuca currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Kid Museum and is actively involved in the New York State Society of Washington, D.C.