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Vincent E. Gentile is a partner in the Commercial Litigation Practice Group. He has handled a broad range of civil and commercial litigation matters from trial through appeal, and has represented major corporate clients in complex, multiparty cases and individuals and small businesses in both state and federal courts.
Civil/Commercial Litigation. Vince has substantial litigation experience on a host of commercial and civil issues. He concentrates on financial litigation including defense of accountants and auditors, and on shareholder disputes involving closely-held corporations, including shareholder "oppression" cases and appraisal actions. He litigated one of the early seminal cases under New Jersey's minority shareholders act and has represented both corporations and shareholders in disputes over valuation and governance. Vincent's recent experience includes:
Representing several Big Four firms in audit malpractice litigations;
Representing groups of minority shareholders in chancery court actions challenging mergers and seeking the fair value of their shares;
Representing companies or majority shareholders in actions brought by minority shareholders under the New Jersey appraisal statute or in actions claiming shareholder oppression;
Serving as counsel to a special committee of the board of directors of a public company to evaluate the rights of the corporation and certain shareholders to an earn-out payment;
Representing the founders of a fiber optic company in a suit by a former colleague, who claimed an interest in the company based on the alleged misappropriation of his intellectual property; and
Representing the surviving 50 percent shareholder of a closely held industrial company in negotiating and litigating issues relating to a buy-sell agreement and to appraisals of businesses and properties worth $150 million.
Over the past 15 years, Vince has served as a court-appointed mediator in complex civil litigations in the federal and state courts in New Jersey.
In General. Vince graduated from Cornell University magna cum laude in 1975 and received his law degree from New York University School of Law in 1978. While at NYU, he was a notes and comment editor of the law review. Vince was a law clerk to the Honorable Jacob D. Fuchsberg of the New York Court of Appeals. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey and chief of the Civil Division from 1984-1989.
Vince has authored several articles on shareholder litigation issues, including "Two Unsettled Issues in Minority Shareholder Litigation," New Jersey Law Journal (February 2001) and "New Jersey Supreme Court Rules on Marketability Discounts in Valuation Cases," New Jersey Lawyer (December 1999). He also coordinates Legal Briefs, the firm's periodic newsletter to accountants and financial professionals. Vince has been certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Civil Trial Attorney, is a master of the Mercer County Inn of Court, and a former member of the New Jersey Supreme Court District VII Fee Arbitration Committee. | 