Joshua A. Hawks-Ladds

• Attorney Hawks-Ladds and his colleague Richard Robinson represented a national nuclear remediation company through the settlement of a multimillion dollar contract claim in the United State District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Attorney Hawks-Ladds appeared pro hac vice for our client in the case.

• In 2021 and 2022 Attorney Hawks-Ladds served as co-lead counsel defending ten class actions (or putative class actions) filed against restaurants for allegedly failing to pay proper wages to the restaurants’ service workers.  Attorney Hawks-Ladds served as Lead Trial Counsel and managed the litigation strategies for these matters. Attorney Hawks-Ladds has extensive experience representing restaurants in wage disputes at the department of labor level and in court.

• Attorney Hawks-Ladds represented a client for a debarment hearing in which the New York State Department of Transportation threatened to bar the client from being awarded $20,000,000 in annual state construction contracts based on purported violations of state and federal disadvantaged business regulations. Attorney Hawks-Ladds successfully briefed and argued that the NYSDOT must maintain the client’s certification as a responsible contractor, which it did. 
• Attorney Hawks-Ladds litigated and won an injunction action in which a minority shareholder sought to have the Massachusetts Superior Court order the dissolution of a closely held corporation, install a receiver and reinstate the shareholder as an employee of the company. The motion for injunction was denied in favor of our client.
• Attorney Hawks-Ladds litigated a preliminary injunction action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York involving a former employee of a large hedge fund's alleged violation of his noncompetition agreement and state and federal trade secrets law.
• Attorney Hawks-Ladds successfully defended a declaratory judgment action in the New York Supreme Court involving a former employee of a large hedge fund's attempt to prevent the enforcement of a noncompetition agreement through the issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order. The Supreme Court denied the plaintiff's application.
• Argued a case of first impression before the State of Connecticut Appellate Court involving the advice of counsel as a defense to a slander of title lawsuit.
• Represented an international plastics brokerage company in Superior Court in Atlanta, Georgia relating to two former employees' alleged theft of trade secrets, breaches of fiduciary duties and breaches of confidentiality agreements.
• Litigated a Quiet Title action on behalf of a State of Connecticut agency at the Appellate Court after successfully securing a permanent injunction in the Superior Court.
• Successfully litigated a restrictive covenant case in Superior Court receiving an injunction against our client’s former employee for violating his agreement not to solicit customers and accounts.
• Won a Second Circuit Court of Appeals appeal involving a Connecticut real estate agency involving a franchise arbitration matter, after having prevailed with the confirmation of the arbitration award in the U.S. District Court. Attorney Hawks-Ladds argued the appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Won a Connecticut Appellate Court case after winning a summary process trial involving a complex low to moderate housing dispute.
• Negotiated a long term retention agreement for the President and Chief Executive Officer of a Connecticut bank.
• Successfully completed an eight day trial involving claims of trade name dilution and unfair competition under the Lanham Act, Connecticut's Trademark Act and common law resulting in a favorable judgment for our client.
• Successfully negotiated a $1.3 million partnership dispute involving one of the largest accounting firms in the U.S.
• Served as an expert witness in a disability discrimination lawsuit in which a national security company was sued for negligent hiring of an allegedly disabled employee who caused a motor vehicle accident.
• Completed two Freedom of Information Commission actions both resulting in favorable results for our client, a Connecticut municipality.  The first involved the disclosure of Police Department records.  The second involved the disclosure of a town employee's personnel, disciplinary and medical records.
• Litigated a FINRA arbitration matter at FINRA in New York City involving one of the world's largest financial institutions and its former financial advisor.
• Argued before the Connecticut Supreme Court a case of first impression involving the Connecticut fair housing laws.  The case involved the defense of the firm's clients, a housing authority and a property management company, in a discrimination action in which our clients successfully precluded the complainant from intervening in a Superior Court lawsuit.  The Supreme Court must decide whether the complainant has a right to intervene when the statute is silent on that right.
• Won a motion to compel arbitration in which the superior court found that the State of Connecticut Sales Representative Commission Statute is preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. 
• Briefed, argued and received a decision from the Connecticut Supreme Court on a matter of first impression relating to the State of Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Act.  The legal issues involved whether a quasi-state agency is immune from an award of sanctions and legal fees levied against it by the workers’ compensation commission due to the agency’s delay in processing a workers’ compensation claim.
• Successfully defended a workers' compensation claim in which the client received a formal hearing award that held that a truck driver was an independent contractor and not an employee under Connecticut law.
• The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a District Court decision and dismissed a claim against our clients, a municipality and its officers.  The case involves significant issues involving a municipal police officer's right to free speech under the First Amendment.  Attorney Hawks-Ladds briefed the case to the District Court and to the Court of Appeals.
• Prevailed before the Appellate Court which affirmed a Superior Court trial court decision denying a writ of mandamus filed against a Connecticut Probate Court judge.
• Received a superior court judgment confirming an arbitration award denying a union's Application to Vacate an Arbitration Award.  The arbitration award arose out of a multi-day arbitration, litigated by Attorney Joshua A. Hawks-Ladds, in which the panel determined that a labor arbitration was not arbitrable due to the union’s failure to follow the contractual grievance procedures.  The matter is currently on appeal before the Connecticut Appellate Court. 
• After a five day arbitration, won a labor arbitration before the Connecticut State Board of Mediation and Arbitration for a municipal police department.
• Argued successfully before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a federal civil rights lawsuit resulting in a denial of a motion on a matter on appeal.
• Argued a case of first impression in front of the Connecticut Appellate court involving the Connecticut Fair Housing Act. Attorney Hawks-Ladds had successfully prevented a tenant from intervening in a Superior Court housing discrimination case against his clients; the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and the tenant appealed the denial of her right to intervene.
• After a three week trial, Attorney Hawks-Ladds received a Superior Court judgment for our client in a $5,000,000 foreclosure and defense of fraud and civil rights action. The Court granted our client all requested relief and rejected all of the defendants' claims.
• Litigated a case of first impression on a First Amendment free speech issue before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Successfully defended a State of Connecticut Authority in a federal court civil rights lawsuit, resulting in a dismissal of the claim.
• Argued a case of first impression before the Connecticut Supreme Court involving Connecticut's Historic District Commission law.
• After a vigorously contested arbitration, received an Arbitration Award in favor of a municipality, upholding the town's Police Commission's discipline of a police officer for publishing a libelous, anonymous letter that disrupted the town's police department.
• Successfully litigated a Permanent Injunction lawsuit on behalf of an employer in which the court ordered equitable relief in the form of an extension of a nonsolicitation covenant during the period of the employee's breach.
• Won a directed verdict, after a jury trial, defending a company from its former employee’s claim of Workers’ Compensation discrimination.

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