David A. Shimkin focuses his litigation practice on representing clients in the hospitality, construction, and transportation fields, including trucking companies involved in interstate and intrastate claims. He is experienced in the defense of cases involving alleged food contamination, and has also defended restaurant clients in dram shop/liquor liability matters in multiple jurisdictions. David also has extensive experience in defending class actions and handling toxic exposure and contamination cases involving both property damage and bodily injury claims. David has also handled fire damage cases. He has also defended errors and omissions and professional liability claims brought against officers of closely held and public companies, accountants, and other professionals. He has also defended cyber-security breach, intellectual property, and trade secret claims. David was an adjunct professor at New York Law School and sits on the board of a major nonprofit organization.
David started his career as an assistant district attorney in the Bronx, where he argued appeals, including in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He also tried misdemeanor and felony cases. More recently, he has tried civil cases in both state and federal courts.
David was a John Kluge Scholar as an undergraduate at Columbia University. He earned his law degree from Cornell Law School, where he was a general editor of the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, and received a certificate of specialization in Public Law.
David was chosen as a 2013 Rising Star by the New York Law Journal. The panel reviewed more than 200 nominations of young lawyers who have established a record of accomplishments and demonstrated that they are top contributors to the practice of law as well as to their communities. David was among the 44 attorneys with the highest ratings.
News
January 11, 2019
David Shimkin, a member in the firm's Commercial Litigation Department, was quoted in Law360's article, "Calif. Builders Strategize Ahead Of 2020 Solar Panel Rules."
June 15, 2016
As a 2016-17 Fellow, David will participate in targeted leadership training events with the other member fellows throughout the program year.
January 15, 2015
In an article titled "Subpoena Will Unmask Company's Anonymous Critics on Twitter," David Shimkin, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Commercial Litigation Department, discusses a recent federal decision that authorized defamation defendants to subpoena Twitter for the identities of anonymous posters. The historic underpinnings of the right to anonymous speech "have a long history," David said, but the right "is not absolute."
May 31, 2013
An esteemed panel of attorneys selected David, a member of the Litigation Section, for the annual list, which honors a select group of attorneys under 45 years of age.
Publications
August 20, 2018
David Shimkin, a member of the firm's Commercial Litigation Department, authored, "Member Attorney Spotlight: Wanji Walcott," a piece on Wanji Walcott, SVP and General Counsel of PayPal.
May 16, 2018
Thanks to the California legislature and the Ninth Circuit’s recent unpublished opinion in Fitzpatrick v. Tyson Foods, food manufacturers and distributors in California can label their products “Made in the USA,” even if the products contain certain percentages of foreign-made ingredients or...
October 02, 2017
David Shimkin, member of Cozen O'Connor's Commercial Litigation Department, authored, "Experts, Hearsay, and the ‘Sanchez’ Case" for California Lawyer.
September 01, 2017
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are expected to soon issue new regulations regarding the advertising and labeling of food products. California manufacturers will have to make sure that they not only do not run afoul of those new rules,...
July 01, 2017
David Shimikin, a member of the firm's Commercial Litigation Department, published "California Consumers and Food Manufactures Await Key Government Rules on Food Labeling," in the California Minority Counsel Program Diversity Matters Newsletter.
December 20, 2016
What it means for food to be “natural” has become a topic of contentious debate, and the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) entered the fray earlier this year, requesting comments on use of the term on food labeling. Some courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, have...
June 23, 2016
Two recent decisions out of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland illustrate the difficulty that cyber breach victims can have in establishing standing to sue. In both cases, the court dismissed the cyber breach suits for lack of standing because the plaintiffs had not yet...
September 08, 2015
The U.S. Department of Justice announced indictments in Brooklyn and New Jersey last month of 32 people for fraudulently obtaining inside information and then using that knowledge to make millions in the market, in the “largest scheme of its kind ever prosecuted.” The inside information was taken...
August 19, 2014
In POM Wonderful LLC v. Coca-Cola Co., (June 12, 2014), the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that companies can bring unfair competition actions under the Lanham Act even when their competitors have complied with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). The upshot of the decision is that food...
August 18, 2014
In an article titled ''It’s a Dirty World: Internet and Email users Must be Careful About What they Post and Send,'' David Shimkin, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, discusses how courts continue to immunize Internet and email users from defamation liability as long as they do not ''materially contribute'' to the alleged defamation that they host, post, or send.
November 25, 2013
Does a company expose itself to liability in California when it boasts that its products are the “safest in the business?” The answer will depend on whether courts will consider that statement to be a misleading claim or mere advertising puffery.
April 15, 2013
David Shimkin and Paul Zola co-authored an article that appeared in the April 15, 2013 edition of the New York Law Journal. The article, titled, "The Continuing Viability of the Assumption of Risk Defense," David and Paul discusses recent developments in sports liability case law. Legal intern Gregory Knight assisted in the preparation of the article.
July 21, 2012
The article discusses Products Liability in the realm of NCAA baseball, specifically the surge in cases brought against bat manufacturers since the NCAA permitted the use of aluminum bats in 1974. David Shimkin and Paul Zola address the doctrine of ''assumption of risk'' amidst the increased danger of aluminum bats.
May 21, 2012
Evidence of Immigration Status May Be Precluded - New York Law Journal - With his dissent in Angamarca v. New York City Partnership Housing Development Fund, Inc., et al., Justice Peter Tom of the Appellate Division, First Department took issue with the majority’s upholding of the preclusion of evidence of an undocumented alien’s plans to return to his country after trial. Plaintiffs are authorized under CPLR § 4111 to seek an itemized verdict of special damages that may include an award for future medical expenses.
December 01, 2007
The Effect of Co-workers’ Actions in Scaffold Law Cases - The Defense Association of New York - The superseding actions of a third party have long been recognized in negligence cases as breaking the link between a defendant’s conduct and a plaintiff’s injury. The defense is also available when defending Labor Law § 240(1) claims, and Labor Law attorneys should keep this in mind.
Events & Seminars
Past Events
May 14, 2019 - Los Angeles, CA
August 20, 2018 - Los Angeles, CA
November 15, 2016 - Los Angeles, CA
November 03, 2016 - New York, NY
May 20, 2015 - New York, NY
February 12, 2013 - New York, NY