John A. Stone is a partner in DeCotiis’ New Jersey and New York offices. He joined the firm as a partner in 2008 and is a member of the Litigation, Intellectual Property, Complex Business and Construction practice groups.

Mr. Stone's practice focuses on complex business matters, including trade secret and intellectual property litigation, unfair competition and tortious interference claims, insurance coverage cases, construction and land use disputes and intra-company disputes, as well as Constitutional claims and Section 1983 cases.  Mr. Stone also litigates claims for injunctive and other equitable remedies, including in New Jersey’s Chancery Division, and New York’s Supreme Courts’ Commercial Divisions. He has tried lender liability, tortious interference, fraudulent conveyance, oppressed shareholder cases and actions in lieu of prerogative writ.  His cases include:

• “Put-back” litigation based on fraud, breach of contract and warranty, and failure-to-cure claims arising from multi-million-dollar sales of mortgage “pools,” pursuant to a Master Purchase and Sale Agreement which governed a Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit; and defending a securities fraud suit brought by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities.
• A founder of a pharmaceutical corporation’s claims against the management that took over that company after it went public, regarding control, management, and proprietary rights.
• A suit between parties to a pharmaceutical joint venture regarding trade secrets and profits.
• A dispute between the estates of two deceased partners and the remaining partner in a real estate development company regarding management, control and rights to properties and profits.
• “Corporate divorces” between principals of closely held pharmaceutical distributorships and motorcycle dealerships.
• Applications for injunctive relief between generic drug manufacturers, sellers and importers of clothing, and between creators and designers of an “app.”
• Construction delay, negligent design, breach of warranty, breach of contract, and wrongful or exaggerated lien claims concerning highway bridge repairs, a sewage treatment plant, and commercial office and public school buildings.
• Land use and prerogative writ litigation, including major residential and commercial development, regarding the water supply for a multi-track residential development, and expansion of a large suburban mall.
• Claims regarding an exclusive insurable interest in, fire insurance proceeds from, and replacement value of a multi-unit apartment building; and suits concerning insurance coverage for a trucking fleet damaged by Hurricane Sandy, advertising injury, and franchisor liability.
• Defending pharmaceutical anti-trust claims and analyzing pharmaceutical supply contracts.
• An unconventional and successful undue influence claim based on an enabler-beneficiary’s control over alcoholic-decedent and forensic psychiatric analysis, despite decedent’s lucidity when naming his beneficiary.