Christopher Priore is a commercial and appellate litigator with broad experience across multiple industries and areas of the law who routinely practices before state and federal appellate courts. Chris’s appellate practice includes successfully litigating complex commercial cases and cases involving novel constitutional issues.

Chris has represented construction firms and owners in construction defect and lien law disputes as well as creditors and lenders in various creditors’ rights, loan workouts and bankruptcy matters. Chris also has experience with shareholder disputes, litigation related to mergers and acquisitions, as well as noncompetition matters. Additionally, Chris represents large hospitality groups in various matters, including liquor licensing.

While Chris focuses on commercial litigation, he also has significant experience in real estate transactions and development in the commercial and residential markets, zoning and land use regulations, and all real estate–related litigation, including tax certiorari.

Chris served as a law clerk at the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Trustee while in law school. He is the author of “Lending Intermediaries: The Implications of Fraud on Unsuspecting Debtors & Lessons from In Re Montano,” American Bar Association, Consumer Bankruptcy Newsletter (2014).

    Education

    • Albany Law School (J.D., 2011)
      • editor, Albany Government Law Review
    • Clarkson University (B.S., 2008)

    Bar Admissions

    • New York

    Court Admissions

    • Supreme Court of the United States
    • Supreme Court of New York
    • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
    • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
    • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
    • U.S. District Court, Western District of New York
    • U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York

    Awards & Honors

    • Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® Ones to Watch™, 2024-2025
    • Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America©: Ones to Watch in the area of Commercial Litigation, 2021-2023
    • Selected for inclusion in Rising Stars for Upstate New York Super Lawyers, 2021-2022

Christopher A. Priore

Christopher Priore is a commercial and appellate litigator with broad experience across multiple industries and areas of the law who routinely practices before state and federal appellate courts. Chris’s appellate practice includes successfully litigating complex commercial cases and cases involving novel constitutional issues.

Chris has represented construction firms and owners in construction defect and lien law disputes as well as creditors and lenders in various creditors’ rights, loan workouts and bankruptcy matters. Chris also has experience with shareholder disputes, litigation related to mergers and acquisitions, as well as noncompetition matters. Additionally, Chris represents large hospitality groups in various matters, including liquor licensing.

While Chris focuses on commercial litigation, he also has significant experience in real estate transactions and development in the commercial and residential markets, zoning and land use regulations, and all real estate–related litigation, including tax certiorari.

Chris served as a law clerk at the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Trustee while in law school. He is the author of “Lending Intermediaries: The Implications of Fraud on Unsuspecting Debtors & Lessons from In Re Montano,” American Bar Association, Consumer Bankruptcy Newsletter (2014).

Christopher A. Priore

Priore and Lauricella Secure Key Appellate Division Ruling Annulling and Remanding New York State Department of Labor License Denial

Albany partners Christopher Priore and Peter Lauricella successfully represented a research company and its owner/president in a CPLR Article 78 proceeding in the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department, challenging the New York State Department of Labor’s (DOL) denial of the clients’ application for a license to purchase, own, possess, and transport explosives (O&P license). The company, which conducts limited fireworks displays as part of its business, must maintain an O&P license issued under Labor Law Article 16, which must be renewed annually.

In July 2021, our owner client applied to renew the company’s O&P license. The DOL denied the application on the sole ground that neither the owner nor any employee held a current Pyrotechnician Certificate of Competence (PCC), despite the owner having held a PCC for many years and the company having previously obtained O&P license renewals without one. The denial was upheld after an administrative hearing and adopted by the Commissioner of Labor.

Chris and Peter challenged the Commissioner's authority to impose a blanket PCC requirement as a prerequisite for O&P licensure. The central legal issue was whether the Department of Labor's internal policy – mandating that all O&P license applicants hold or employ someone with a PCC credential – constituted a "rule" subject to the formal rulemaking procedures of the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA). They presented evidence that the DOL had historically approved O&P license applications without a PCC, and only later, after internal discussions and consultation with counsel, adopted this requirement and added a question about PCCs to the application form – all without undertaking the required rulemaking process.

The Appellate Division unanimously agreed and annulled the Commissioner's determination. The court held that the mandatory PCC requirement was a generally applicable rule that should have been promulgated in accordance with SAPA's formal rulemaking procedures. Because the DOL failed to do so, the requirement was unenforceable. The matter was remitted to the DOL to evaluate the O&P license application at issue in accordance with properly promulgated rules and our clients’ particular facts and circumstances.
 

Christopher A. Priore and Peter A. Lauricella

Albany Team's Significant Trial Win Saves Client Tens of Millions

Following a nearly three-week trial, an Albany-based team comprising partners Peter Lauricella and Chris Priore and associates Daniel Lange and Kadeem Wolliaston obtained a favorable decision in New York State Supreme Court, Albany County for our client, an aggregate materials company that owns multiple quarry sites and asphalt plants, which also engages in road construction. 

As background, two first cousins owned a minority shareholder position in each other's companies, but in the mid-1990s, they held different visions for their respective businesses, and tensions arose. In or around 2007, our client’s majority shareholder requested that his shares in his cousin’s business be purchased, and his cousin agreed to do so. In 2014, the cousin died and his son became executor, and demanded an inspection of our client’s records. In late 2015, the son filed a Shareholder's Derivative lawsuit against our client, our client’s majority shareholder and our client’s other directors and related companies alleging that our client was being "looted" in a "grand scheme of fraud" in excess of $3 million a year. In 2019, our client and the other defendants filed motions for summary judgment, and the court granted the motion in large part, dismissing every claim in the Complaint, except for one alleging that two employees had been overcompensated. 

In January 2019, the cousin’s son filed another proceeding - a judicial dissolution proceeding pursuant to NY Business Corporation Law (BCL) section 1104-a, claiming that our client’s alleged "oppressive actions" against him warranted the dissolving of the entire company, in which the assets would be liquidated and the proceeds paid out to the shareholders. Under NY's BCL, our client opted to purchase the plaintiff’s shares, triggering a Valuation Proceeding, with experts on each side exchanging their reports. Our experts opined that the company was worth approximately $18 million, which valued the plaintiff’s share at nearly $6 million (after discounts) (although the realistic lowest value was probably closer to $8.5 million). The plaintiff’s valuation team set the worth at more than $58 million, resulting in a value for his shares of more than $22 million – $7 million more than our experts had valued the entire company! 

In a classic “bet the company” case, the court heard more than 25 witnesses and considered some 200 exhibits in this lengthy trial. In the end, the court ruled that the value of the plaintiff’s shares was $10.5 million – far closer to our expert team's value, and a far cry the plaintiff’s $22 million. Ordinarily, New York courts award 9% interest, and judges rarely vary from that. Through some innovative arguments and evidence the Albany team introduced at trial, including how the plaintiff kept these proceedings going for almost eight years, the court awarded interest at only 4.75%, resulting in a savings of more than $2 million for our client!

Peter A. Lauricella, Christopher A. Priore, Daniel J. Lange and Kadeem Wolliaston

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