Callagy Law Wins $27.6 Million For Ousted Company Founder

Callagy Law of Paramus has obtained a $27.6 million verdict for an ousted founder of a staffing company who sued his former business partner.

A federal jury in Phoenix, Ariz., awarded the money, including $14.375 million in punitive damages, on April 20 to Marc A. Wichansky, former president of Zoel Holding Co. Inc. of Phoenix.

Wichansky alleged that David T. Zowine engaged in or concealed billing fraud and led a campaign to control the company after Wichansky suspected billing fraud by the company.

Wichansky eventually was ousted.

Zowine’s conduct “included harassment, intimidation, private and public humiliation, a death threat, and physical violence,” said Wichansky's lead counsel, Sean R. Callagy, founder and owner of Callagy Law, P.C., of Paramus, N.J.

Sean Callagy suffers from a degenerative eye disease, Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). Notwithstanding this severe impairment, Callagy and his trial team were able to secure the verdict after an intense 13-day trial.

The jury found that Zowine breached his officer, director and shareholder fiduciary duty and assaulted Wichansky. The jury also awarded compensatory and punitive damages against several other defendants.

The other lawyers who worked on the case were Michael J. Smikun, Christopher R. Miller, Samuel S. Saltman and Robert J. Solomon. The Callagy firm has now won two, $27-million-plus jury verdicts in less than two years. In 2014, a New Jersey jury awarded more than $33 million to the firm’s client in a business dispute.