Louis Orbach

Lou is co-chair of the class and collective action litigation practice. He has tried cases to jury and bench, argued appeals, arbitrated and mediated disputes, and counseled clients in high-stakes matters of contention across New York State and around the country for more than 25 years.

Lou has defended clients in collective and class action lawsuits under the FLSA, the New York Labor Law, ERISA, the ADEA, and consumer protection statutes. 

In one recent case, Lou led the defense team that obtained the early dismissal of a putative class action alleging claims of deceptive trade practices and false advertising against one of the country’s largest furniture retailers.

In another case, Lou led the team that successfully pursued a pre-discovery challenge to a putative FLSA collective action brought against a major hospitality client. The strategy was based on a little-used exemption defense and resulted in a voluntary dismissal of the federal court action by plaintiffs’ counsel.

Lou has defended clients facing benefits-related class action lawsuits under ERISA and the ADEA, including stock drop and cash balance plan conversion cases. The Second Circuit affirmed summary judgment on all counts for one of Lou’s clients, a large energy-industry employer with operations across New York State, in an ERISA case brought by a group of employees asserting claims of contractual vesting, promissory estoppel, breach of fiduciary duties, anti-inurement violations, and prohibited transactions allegedly arising out of an amendment to the company’s retiree welfare benefits platform.