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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
We hope that you’re having a great summer. We want to share with you our news from the past few months. As always, we invite you to reach out and share your updates.
Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky
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Chambers USA Recognizes DPK | |
Chambers USA has recognized DPK in its 2026 rankings, with the firm advancing to Band 4 in the Highly Regarded Table for General Commercial Litigation (NY). Chambers says, “Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky is a respected litigation boutique fielding expertise in a broad range of complex commercial disputes, including contractual breaches, shareholder litigation and arbitral enforcement. It is regularly retained by prominent names in the finance, real estate and insurance sectors.”
Firm co-founder Tom Dewey is individually ranked for the eleventh consecutive year. The firm also welcomes a new addition to the table: Ariel Cannon makes her debut as an individually ranked attorney. Clients say, “Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky demonstrates dedication to the client, integrity and an ability to work collaboratively. Its team is organized, thorough and comes with a gameplan to drive to an outcome. It has extremely good lawyers with great legal minds.”
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Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky has been recognized in the Legal 500 United States 2026 Guide, earning a new national ranking in the Commercial Disputes: Boutique Firms table, where the firm is ranked in Tier 3.
Legal 500 says: “Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky LLP is a New York litigation boutique with a reputation for representing sophisticated clients, including those in the banking, private equity, real estate, and insurance spaces, in complex commercial disputes in state and federal courts, as well as in arbitration. The team handles disputes spanning from breach of contract and fiduciary duty to commercial leasing and wrongful termination. The firm was founded by Thomas Dewey, who specializes in representing financial services and real estate clients; David Pegno, who has extensive experience in representing clients in AAA, JAMS, and FINRA arbitrations; and Stephen Kramarsky, who focuses on litigating technology, financial, intellectual property, and employment disputes.”
| | Super Lawyers Recognizes Five DPK Partners | | |
We are proud to share that the 2026 edition of New York Super Lawyers has recognized DPK partners Tom Dewey, Dave Pegno, Steve Kramarsky, Keara Bergin, and Jen Salzberg. This marks Tom’s twelfth year on the list, Dave’s ninth, Steve and Keara’s sixth, and Jen’s second.
Super Lawyers employs a rigorous multiphase selection process that includes peer nominations, independent research, and peer evaluations to identify attorneys who demonstrate excellence in practice. Only the top 5% of attorneys in a given state earn a place on the Super Lawyers list each year.
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DPK is pleased to announce that Ed Lee has rejoined the firm.
Ed’s litigation practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, employment disputes, and matters arising in the financial services industry. He has represented institutional and individual clients in federal and state courts and before arbitral bodies, handling matters involving breach of contract, fiduciary duty, securities-related claims, and trademark disputes. Ed’s experience includes trial and arbitration proceedings, as well as oral argument in federal court, and strategic analysis contributing to a successful emergency injunctive relief application in an international trademark dispute.
Ed started his career as an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he was an associate editor of the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law. Ed earned his B.S. in International Politics from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
| | Recently Featured Publications | |
Dave Pegno Quoted in Law360 on Supreme Court’s Arbitration Decision
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Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky founding partner Dave Pegno was quoted in a Law360 article examining the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Adrian Jules v. Andre Balazs Properties et al., which held that federal courts retain jurisdiction over enforcement proceedings after sending a dispute to arbitration.
The article, “Jules Decision Provides Arbitration Certainty Post-Badgerow,” explores how the ruling clarifies questions that lingered after the Court’s 2022 decision in Badgerow v. Walters regarding the role of federal courts in arbitration-related litigation.
Commenting on what the decision signals about the Court’s view of federal court involvement in arbitration matters, Dave told Law360: “With Badgerow, I think some people thought the court was not wanting federal courts to be involved in [arbitration-related] litigation, or minimizing that role, and that appears not to be the case.”
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The Perils of Human Hacking in an AI World
by Steve Kramarsky
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Instagram’s parent company, Meta, found itself the victim of an embarrassing security breach. Hackers were able to take control of more than 20,000 high-value Instagram accounts simply by asking Meta’s AI tech support tool to give them access. The Instagram attack is, in some ways, a new technological twist on the old hacker technique called social engineering.
One unusual social engineering case has been making its way through the New York courts for the last two years. Plaintiff in Bhagat is a former Meta tech support worker who was the target of a social engineering scam. Plaintiff sued defendant for fraud and tortious interference with his employment relationship, arguing that his firing was a direct result of defendant’s efforts to hijack an Instagram account. Defendant’s summary judgment motion was therefore denied in full.
The current trend in AI is to rely increasingly on “agentic” AI tools: that is, tools that are able to perform tasks on their own, without human supervision. Will our AI agents, programmed to please, exercise the same judgment? Instagram’s experience suggests we should be ready for a lot more “Oops Feedback.”
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Second Circuit Rejects Attempt Narrowly to Construe Settlement Agreement
by Tom Dewey
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In 2019, Visa and Mastercard reached a class settlement with merchants who had brought claims alleging them federal antitrust violations. Rather than opt out of the settlement, and despite the releases in the settlement agreement, a group of gasoline retail companies filed a separate class action, Old Jericho Enterprise, Inc. et al. v. Visa, Inc. et al., alleging state antitrust violations. On May 4, 2026, the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision dismissing the suit on the ground that the gasoline companies were bound by the class settlement.
The issue turned on whether appellants, gasoline retailers, themselves “accepted” Visa and Mastercard usage, or whether their gasoline suppliers, who provided authorization for them to accept such payments, did so. The district court had found that the term “accepted” was ambiguous as drafted in the settlement agreement, but that extrinsic evidence indicated that appellants themselves accepted Visa and Mastercard payments. The Second Circuit “discern[ed] no clear error” in the district court’s determination.
The court’s decision in Old Jericho highlights the complexity involved in antitrust class settlements, and the counterintuitive options plaintiffs may have to maximize recovery. Ultimately, appellants’ choice cost them only (possibly) attorneys’ fees, as the Second Circuit’s holding confirmed that appellants were in fact members of the settlement class, and thus entitled to their pro rata share of the settlement. Thus, while the suit was unsuccessful, appellants’ position remains the same as it was before the suit was brought, while purchasers who opted out of the class still face the risk of recovering nothing at all.
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