Eric Dinnocenzo
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Phone: (212) 933-1675
641 Lexington Avenue
14th Floor
New York, New York 10022
Eric Dinnocenzo has extensive experience representing insurance policyholders and beneficiaries, consumers, and injured persons in civil litigation against corporations and insurance companies.
Immediately after graduating from law school, Mr. Dinnocenzo worked as a civil legal aid attorney, defending tenants in the housing court and also representing them in discrimination cases. Mr. Dinnocenzo tried his first case before he was admitted to the bar, obtaining the largest verdict on behalf of a tenant ever recorded by his office. As a legal aid attorney, he lectured about landlord-tenant law to court personnel and social services agencies.
Mr. Dinnocenzo subsequently was an associate at two prominent boutique civil litigation firms that represented injured persons in complex cases in the areas of insurance coverage, products liability, medical malpractice, construction accidents, and other personal injury cases. At these firms, Mr. Dinnocenzo worked to obtain millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for his clients.
In addition to having tried numerous cases before judges and juries, Mr. Dinnocenzo has both argued and submitted briefs to appellate courts, including the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He has published legal articles in the areas of insurance denials, landlord-tenant law, and complex issues in civil litigation.
Mr. Dinnocenzo has been interviewed by print media and has been a guest commentator on television. He is a member of a number of professional organizations including the American Association for Justice (member, Insurance Law section), the New York City Bar Association (member, Insurance Law Committee), the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, and United Policyholders.
Mr. Dinnocenzo has a strong commitment to public service, counseling tenants at a housing clinic sponsored by New York State Assemblyman Micah Kellner and serving as a volunteer attorney at the New York City Housing Court. He also is a volunteer attorney with the Cancer Advocacy Project of the New York City Bar Association providing legal assistance to cancer patients who have experienced bad faith insurance denials.
Education
J.D., Boston College Law School, 2001
Cum Laude
B.A., Fairfield University, 1995
Bar Admissions
Second Circuit Court of Appeals, 2010
New Jersey State and Federal District Court, 2007
U.S. District Court, Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, 2006
State Bar of New York, 2006
Massachusetts State and Federal District Court, 2002
Professional Activities
United Policyholders
Silver Level Sponsor
New York City Bar Association
Insurance Law Committee
New York State Trial Lawyers Association
American Association for Justice
Insurance Law Section
Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, 2004-2005
Publications
Life Insurance Denials Based on Material Misrepresentations: The Application Process, the Law, and Public Policy Collide, American Association for Justice, Insurance Law Section Newsletter, Vol. 17, No. 1, Fall 2011.
Does the Consumer Fraud Act Apply to First-Party Insurance Claims?, N.J.L.J., Vol. 205, No. 12, September 19, 2011.
I Don’t Need Your Authority, The Use of Learned Treatises in New York State Courts, N.Y.S.B.A. J., Vol. 82, No. 5, June 2010, at 10.
The Postclaims Underwriting 'Gotcha', Trial, Vol 45, No. 1, Jan. 2009, at 52.
Worth the Paper It's Written On, City Limits, Oct. 6, 2008, available at http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/3631/worth-the-paper
The Use of Similar Accident Evidence In Products Liability Cases, Bill of Particulars (a publication of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association), Fall 2007.
Volunteer Experience
Volunteer Attorney, Housing Clinic Sponsored by New York State Assemblyman Micah Kellner
New York City Housing Court, Volunteer Attorney
Judge, New York State Trial Lawyers Association, Law School Mock Trial Competition, 2009
Cancer Advocacy Project, New York City Bar Association
Board of Directors, Visiting Neighbors, New York, NY, 2006 - 2009
Reported Decisions
In the Matter of Valderrama v. New York State Div. of Human Rights and Yorkville Towers Associates LLC, 401640/11, NYLJ 1202519960377, at *1 (Sup., NY, Oct. 6, 2011).
Principal Life Ins. Co. v. McMillan, 09-CV-2359, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50388 (E.D.N.Y. May 21, 2010).
Lin v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 07-CV-3218 (RJH), 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26477 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 30, 2009), reconsideration denied by 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17146 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 24, 2010), aff'd No. 10-909, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 3483 (2d Cir. Feb. 22, 2011).
Chen v. Cincinnati Inc., 2009 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 4664 (Sup., Kings, Mar. 10, 2009).
M.J. Realty Trust II v. Dinnocenzo, 854 N.E.2d 144 (Mass. App. Ct. 2006).
Abdeljaber v. Khari, 801 N.E.2d 290 (Mass. App. Ct. 2004).