John M. Desiderio

John M. Desiderio, Chair of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.’s Real Estate Litigation Practice Group, has been a practicing attorney in New York City for over forty years. His practice is concentrated in cooperative/condominium representation, real estate litigation, title litigation, mortgage foreclosures, and antitrust and trade regulation. John M. Desiderio is rated by Martindale-Hubbell as “AV Preeminent” signifying the “Highest Possible Rating in Both Legal Ability and Ethical Standards.” Mr. Desiderio has been rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell for over 25 years and has been named Super Lawyer by Law & Politics magazine. Mr. Desiderio received his A.B. degree from Fordham College in 1963, an LL.B. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1966, and an LL.M. degree from New York University School of Law in 1969. He served as a Captain in U.S. Army Intelligence from 1966 to 1968.He has extensive experience in conducting and defending depositions and in conducting trials and arguing appeals in both New York State and federal courts. Mr. Desiderio has extensive litigation experience in representing both landlords and tenants in commercial and residential real estate litigation. His cases in this area have involved issues relating to ownership of title to property, the right to enforce contracts of sale, landlord obligations to furnish habitable dwellings, tenant obligations to meet conditions of their tenancy, and the applicability of common law and statutory warranties to newly constructed or converted condominium and cooperative apartments. Mr. Desiderio’s reported cases include: Million Gold Realty Co. v. SE&K Corp., 4 AD3d 196, 772 NYS2d 271 (1st Dept. 2004).; Nutritional Health Alliance v. Food and Drug Administration, 318 F3d 92 (2d Cir.2003); Anthony Gangi v. Solgar Co., Inc., 267 AD2d 350, 699 NYS2d 922 (2d Dept. 1999); Alleghany Pharmacal Corporation, et al v. Parbel of Florida, Inc., 226 AD2d 104, 640 NYS2d 507 (1st Dept. 1996); Shulton, Inc. v. Optel Corporation, et al, 698 F. Supp. 61 (D.N.J. 1988); Frank Saltz & Sons, Inc. v. Hart Schaffner & Marx, 1985-2 Trade Cas. (CCH) 66,768 (S.D.N.Y. 1985). From 1969 to 1980, Mr. Desiderio was an Assistant New York State Attorney General under Attorneys General Louis Lefkowitz and Robert Abrams, and from 1972 to 1980 he served as Chief of the Attorney General’s Anti-Monopolies (now Antitrust) Bureau Mr. Desiderio entered private practice in 1981 and represented clients in antitrust, RICO, real estate, and general civil litigation. From 1989 to February 1999, he was a member of a prestigious litigation law firm. Mr. Desiderio has been appointed to the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the First Department of the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court. He will serve for a period of three years through December 31, 2016.