JOHN R. FERRETTI, Partner [bodily injury litigation - motor vehicle and general liability cases], obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree from Hofstra University and a Law Degree from Hofstra School of Law. He was admitted to the New York State Bar and is also admitted to practice in Federal Court (Eastern and Southern Districts of New York). He has served as a Nassau County Deputy Attorney, where he handled automobile and premises liability cases, as well as federal civil rights cases. He has more than 30 years of trial experience and is responsible for oversight of the firm’s third-party automobile defense section. His trial experience includes automobile cases specializing in damages/causation, premises liability and labor law cases. He has conducted seminars/presentations on issues pertaining to automobile insurance threshold and trial strategy. He is also an active member of the Nassau County Bar Association and Nassau-Suffolk Trial Lawyers Association.

VINCE A. SABELLA, partner, graduated from St. John’s University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He graduated Yeshiva University, Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School, where he was a member of the moot court team. He was admitted to the New York State bar, and the New Jersey State bar. He was also admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Mr. Sabella is the managing partner of the departments of the firm that handle Subrogation, No Fault Insurance defense, Medical Provider Fraud, and select Plaintiff Bodily injury matters. He has been practicing over twenty (25) years specializing in the litigation, arbitration, and trial of these matters, and has sat as an arbitrator with arbitration forums. Under his oversight, the firm has consistently been ranked in the top ten (10%) percent of all firms nationwide by well-known insurers on effectiveness, timeliness, and the percentage recovered on subrogation matters. He has published articles in the New York Law Journal in the area of no fault litigation, and defense. Some of the presentations/seminars that he has given were on No Fault PIP/APIP recovery in New York State; Litigating the large loss subrogation case; Maximizing recovery on high volume subrogation matters; and Understanding and defending the No Fault case in New York State for insurers.

JOHN J. NICOLINI, Partner, was born in Bayside, Queens, and graduated Saint Francis Prepatory High School. He obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree from Fordham University and a Law Degree from Hofstra School of Law. He was a member of Law Review at Hofstra School of Law. He was admitted to the New York State Bar and is admitted to practice in the United States District Court, Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.

He oversees the firm’s general liability department, which handles all aspects of civil litigation from inception through trial in areas including premises liability, labor law, products liability, general negligence and appeals. His area of practice also includes property damage subrogation actions and insurance coverage matters.. He has conducted seminars/presentations on various topics including premises liability, first-party coverage issues and trends, automobile insurance threshold issues, and large loss recovery subrogation claims. His pro bono work includes representing individuals injured at the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001, through the Victims Compensation Fund.

FRANCIS J. AMMENDOLEA is a graduate of the Hofstra University School of Law. He is admitted to the New York State Bar, as well as to the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He has been an Associate attorney with the firm, and has been the Senior Managing Associate of the firm’s No-Fault division.

As a Senior Associate, Mr. Ammendolea has handled all aspects of No-Fault litigation, arbitration and Appellate work. He is responsible for the management of the firm’s No-Fault case inventory, including trial preparation and strategy, drafting and review of affirmative and responsive motions and Appellate briefs.

Mr. Ammendolea is a member of the Nassau County Bar Association.

Catherine F. Cavanagh – Catherine Cavanagh is an associate who comes to our firm with many years of experience in the insurance defense field. She began her career as a staff attorney for Allstate Insurance company and then moved on to a staff attorney position with The Travelers. While at Travelers she represented many different clients in premise liability cases, labor law cases, motor vehicle cases and coverage disputes, from inception to trial. After Travelers, Ms. Cavanagh had her own practice for ten years, covering depositions, hearings, and trials for several different law firms, predominantly plaintiff personal injury firms. Most recently Ms. Cavanagh worked for an outside counsel insurance defense firm, defending clients in property damage claims, supplemental uninsured motorist cases and appeals. Ms. Cavanagh has litigated matters in all five boroughs, and Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties. In her spare time she loves being with family and reading.

PETER CONNOR, St. John's University, J.D.; S.U.N.Y. Albany, cum laude. For the past thirty eight years he has handled the defense of personal injury actions. He has tried to verdict cases in the five City boroughs, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester. He has tried over 160 jury trial cases. These cases were auto accidents and premises cases. He has argued motions before the trial courts and the Appellate Courts. He has tried many cases on the issues of damages.

JOSEPH T. DARR is an associate of Nicolini, Paradise, Ferretti & Sabella, PLLC whose practice concentrates on subrogation matters involving products liability, oil spills, water losses, fire losses and automobile liability. He has over 13 years of experience representing companies and individuals in high exposure cases in both Federal and State Courts in New York. Mr. Darr is admitted to practice law in the State of New York, Federal District Court - Eastern District, Federal District Court - Southern District and the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Darr is a graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, summa cum laude, where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice. At John Jay, he was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award, the Ida B. Zambist Award and the Gold Key Recipient from the American Criminal Justice Association. Mr. Darr is also a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law, Dean’s List. At St. John’s, he was an Executive Board Member of the Moot Court Honor Society, a winner of the Fall and Spring J. Walter McKenna Forum Federal and State Case Review Competitions and co-authored “Totality of the Circumstances: How Arguing Mitigating Factors Can Spare a Capital Defendant From Death Row”; 8 NYSBA Crim. Just. J. 143-153.

In addition to practice, Mr. Darr has been an adjunct Professor of Law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He currently teaches Evidence, Constitutional Law, Modern Problems in Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Jurisprudence, The American Judiciary and Legal Research and Writing. He also serves as an advisor to students seeking admission into law school.

JOHN R. FERRETTI JR. obtained a Bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University and a Juris Doctorate from CUNY School of Law. In addition to being licensed to practice law in the State of New York, he is admitted in the Federal Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.

Mr. Ferretti is a member of the Nassau County Legislature, where he serves the 15th legislative district after his election to the position in 2017. Prior to his election, Mr. Ferretti served as Nassau County Chief Deputy County Clerk. In that roll, John oversaw over 100 staff members with a $6 million budget and annual revenue collection exceeding $240 million dollars for federal, state, and local governments. John served as liaison to the New York State Land Title Association and assisted in drafting legislation to waive clerk recording fees for victims of Super Storm Sandy. In November 2016, Mr. Ferretti was appointed by the Hempstead Town Board to the Hempstead Industrial Development Agency, where he proposed and successfully lobbied for procedural changes to ensure additional transparency and tax savings for the residents of the Town of Hempstead.

Mr. Ferretti specializes in bodily injury, real estate, zoning and land use law.

Hofstra University (B.A.); City University of New York School of Law (J.D.).

NEIL KHIANI is a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law and has been admitted to practice in the State of New York. After obtaining several years of experience handling subrogation and assignment matters, Mr. Khiani joined Nicolini, Paradise, Ferretti & Sabella as an associate in the firm’s property damage subrogation department. Mr. Khiani primarily handles matters involving either products liability, water losses, fire losses, or automobile liability.

JIN H. KIM is a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law, and has been litigating for over twenty-five years. He began his legal career at the Queens County District Attorney’s Office as an Assistant District Attorney, and thereafter, he joined the 18-B Panel representing indigent defendants. As a prosecutor and a defense attorney, he had conducted numerous trials to verdict. Eventually, he associated with a plaintiff’s firm where he applied his trial skills and experience to obtain awards and settlements for the injured. His legal journey has ultimately led him to insurance defense where he utilizes the knowledge and perspectives gained from both sides to zealously represent the insureds and their carriers.

SANDRA J. LE PORIN, ESQ. -Sandra LePorin received a degree in Liberal Arts from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and earned her law degree from Nova University School of Law. She began her career as an associate with Purcell & Ingrao P.C. an insurance defense litigation firm in Mineola, NY where she handled the defense of personal injury matters. Sandra then served as house counsel for a Member firm of the New York Stock Exchange and became an experienced financial industry regulatory attorney. As a critical member of the G & L Partners Inc., Sandra provided broad based legal counsel along with compliance regulatory guidance and support to the firm on all corporate policies, supervisory procedures, audit examinations, and other guidance regarding rule interpretations of law imposed by FINRA and SEC regulations. Sandra returned to the practice of insurance defense litigation when she joined the firm of Carman Callahan & Ingham in Farmingdale, NY. She has joined the firm of Nicolini, Paradise, Ferretti and Sabella where she continues to handles all aspects of bodily injury matters.

BAR ADMISSIONS:

STATE OF NEW YORK

U.S. DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Admitted to bar, New York; U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims

Long Island University, Southampton (B.A.); Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg School of Law (J.D.).

MARY-KATHERINE MURRAY began working at Nicolini, Paradise, Ferretti & Sabella as a legal intern while attending St. John’s University School of Law. She then joined the firm as an associate. Ms. Murray has worked in the firm’s subrogation and No-Fault divisions, with her primary concentration being New York State No-Fault law. Ms. Murray appears daily for arbitration hearings, as well as motion and trial appearances throughout the civil and district courts of New York. She has successfully tried hundreds of No-Fault litigation and arbitration matters to resolution within the court and arbitration systems.

JOHN W. PERSONS obtained his B.A. Magnum Cum Laude with Honors and M.A. from the University of Connecticut at Storrs and his J.D. from Albany Law School of Union University, where he also served as a Legal Research and Writing Instructor. He was admitted to the New York State Bar and is also admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Districts of New York. He has 40 years of experience handling personal injury claims, including automobile, premises liability, labor law, municipal liability, medical malpractice and general liability cases for plaintiffs and persons covered by major local and national insurance companies.

SAMUEL RIZZITELLI is a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law and has been admitted to practice in the State of New York. Mr. Rizzitelli obtained several years of experience in bodily injury insurance defense matters as a paralegal while attending law school. Mr. Rizzitelli joined Nicolini, Paradise, Ferretti & Sabella as an associate in the firm’s No-Fault division. Mr. Rizzitelli primarily handles discovery, motion practice, and trial appearances throughout the civil and district courts of New York.

MICHAEL VISTA graduated from Touro Law School with honors, and has over 18 years experience as trial attorney. Prior to joining the law firm Mr. Vista served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office where he was responsible for prosecuting major felony offenses. Mr. Vista handles a wide variety of subrogation matters including products liability, fire loss, and automobile liability cases. Mr. Vista is also a veteran of the United States Army, and served in Iraq during Operation Iraq Freedom.

NAADIYA YASIN is a graduate of the Maurice A. Dean School of Law at Hofstra University and has been admitted to practice in the State of New York. Prior to joining the law firm, Ms. Yasin obtained several years of experience handling matters involving divorce, child custody and support, landlord/tenant, and personal injury. Ms. Yasin joined Nicolini, Paradise, Ferretti & Sabella as an associate in the firm’s defense of bodily injury damage department.