Thomas A. Abbate is an Equity Partner at DeCotiis. He joined the Firm in 2002 and became a partner in 2007. He is a member of the litigation practice group and serves on the Firm’s Executive Committee.

A seasoned litigator and practice leader, Mr. Abbate’s practice focuses on complex civil and commercial litigation on behalf of both businesses and government entities at the trial and appellate levels of the state and federal courts.

Mr. Abbate has represented businesses in a diverse array of commercial litigation matters with a particular focus on health care and regulatory litigation, but which also extends to administrative law, commercial and business disputes, RICO, commercial real estate and financing, insurance coverage, construction, and environmental, among others. Representative matters include: (1) the successful representation of a for-profit healthcare system in a multi-jurisdictional legal dispute simultaneously litigated in the New Jersey Superior Court and Delaware Court of Chancery relating to the acquisition of a failing hospital system, ultimately resulting in an eight-figure judgment and acquisition of the adversary; (2) successful representation of a health care system in a “bet the company" litigation against competing health care systems which resulted in the client successfully acquiring the assets and regulatory approvals to open a new acute care hospital, the first such approval granted in decades.

Mr. Abbate also handles a variety of litigation matters on behalf of state and local government entities, and in this capacity also has extensive experience in prosecuting and defending claims involving public entities. He has particular experience in litigation matters relating to public entity governance, procurement and public records access, regulatory law, transportation law, prerogative writ actions and challenges to governmental authority, labor and employment, civil rights, First Amendment and constitutional law, public works construction, law enforcement liability, environmental regulation, legal ethics, public officials’ ethics and conflict of interest law, education law and insurance coverage.

Representative public entity matters include a complex environmental litigation arising under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in which Mr. Abbate successfully brought to a conclusion, on summary judgment, a suit of first impression and of national import that was brought against a state transportation agency. Plaintiffs sought to advance a novel claim of liability premised upon an interpretation of federal law which would have potentially exposed the State to tens of millions of dollars in future environmental compliance costs. The federal court found that the claims had no merit, and dismissed the case. Additionally, Mr. Abbate represented a government entity in a commercial litigation against a national health insurance carrier in federal district court in which he successfully recovered a multi-million dollar amount in insurance premium overcharges which had been charged contrary to the governing policy documents.

Mr. Abbate is also an experienced appellate litigator and his practice has a particular emphasis on preparing and arguing appeals on behalf of the firm’s institutional and public entity clients. He has taught appellate advocacy to law students and appeared in the appellate courts numerous times, including two successful appearances in the New Jersey Supreme Court. Some representative published cases include:

Representative Cases:

I/M/O Protest of El Sol Contracting and Construction Corp., 260 N.J. 362 (2025) (holding that state agency properly rejected contractor’s bid where the surety’s power of attorney authorized attorney-in-fact to execute proposal bond, but not the consent to issue the contract performance bond).

H.C. Equities, L.P. v. County of Union, et al., 247 N.J. 366 (2021) (holding that commercial landlord in leasedispute failed to comply with notice of claim provisions of Tort Claims Act by issuing a series of demand lettersto its tenant, a County government entity).

Borough of Sayreville v. 35 Club, LLC, 208 N.J. 491 (2012) (holding that the First Amendment is not violated by a New Jersey municipality’s identification of reasonable alternative sites, located in the State of New York, within which an unlawful sexually-oriented business might relocate if ordered to cease operation).

Ciesla v. Department of Health & Senior Services, 429 N.J. Super. 127 (App. Div. 2012) (holding that draft evaluation reports prepared by Department of Health staff evaluating the certificate of need application of HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley Hospital are unqualifiedly protected by the deliberative process privilege).

I/M/O Xanadu Project at the Meadowlands Complex, 415 N.J. Super. 179 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 205 N.J. 96 (2010) (holding that a private redevelopment project on property ground leased from a state agency is within the regulatory eligibility criteria for special State-issued liquor licenses).

In re Zisa, 385 N.J. Super. 188 (App. Div. 2006) (holding that a municipal official was entitled to rely in good faith upon the advice of his municipal attorney as a complete defense to an ethics complaint).

Luskey v. Carteret Board of Education, 459 N.J. Super. 150 (App. Div.), certif. denied 239 N.J. 489 (2019) (affirming the dismissal of a school district employee’s complaint seeking to set aside an arbitration award granting his discharge on jurisdictional grounds, and holding that a contractual promise to grant statutory tenure required any subsequent revocation proceeding to be brought before an arbitrator appointed by the Commissioner of Education, rather than the Public Employment Relations Commission).

Essex County Corrections Officers PBA Local No. 382 v. County of Essex, 439 N.J. Super. 107 (App. Div. 2014), certif. denied, 221 N.J. 567 (2015) (holding that a county government is not preempted from contracting with a private, for-profit entity for the provision of inmate rehabilitative services).

Mr. Abbate received a B.A. in Music with Honors from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in 1999. He received his J.D. from the Fordham University School of Law in 2002, where he was on the staff of the Fordham Urban Law Journal and served as a Legal Writing Teaching Assistant. Mr. Abbate is a New Jersey native. As a result of his life-long love of the performing arts and music, Mr. Abbate frequently trades the courtroom for the concert hall where he maintains an active performance schedule, including as Principal Trombonist with the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra since 2010 and as a member of the New Jersey Wind Symphony since 2006, where he also serves on the Board of Trustees.