ALM and The National Law Journal honored DiCello Levitt for the firm’s cutting-edge civil rights work at the Elite Trial Lawyers awards ceremony on July 11 in New York City. DiCello Levitt was named the Civil Rights Law Firm of the Year in recognition of our attorneys’ innovative and impactful advocacy for clients who have suffered from civil rights abuses, discrimination, catastrophic injuries, defective products, corporate misconduct, and other violations of their rights and safety.
In bestowing this award, ALM and NLJ cited DiCello Levitt’s work representing the families of seven of the individuals killed, and others who were injured, in the racially motivated mass shooting in a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York, on May 14, 2022. Led by partners Diandra “Fu” Debrosse, Amy Keller, and Ken Abbarno, our attorneys are seeking to hold Meta, Reddit, Amazon, Alphabet, Snap, and other social media companies accountable for enabling the tragedy by promoting addictive and radicalizing content. The landmark lawsuit, filed in July 2023 in the New York State Supreme Court, also names Vintage Firearms and other firearm and body armor manufacturers as defendants.
“This tragedy has affected the city of Buffalo in a profound way. Hopefully, our fight for justice will bring about real change,” said Ken Abbarno, managing partner of DiCello Levitt’s Cleveland office. “Growing up in Buffalo, I felt as though my hometown was disrespected in so many ways. Being one of the lawyers to help lead the charge to make real change in this nation is a tremendous responsibility, something that none of us will shy away from to bring respect and restore dignity to all the families affected.”
In March, our team defeated the social media companies’ motions to dismiss—and in the process, helped create new law.
“The court’s denial of the social media, arms seller, and vest retailer defendants is a watershed moment,” said Diandra “Fu” Debrosse, co-chair of both the Mass Tort Litigation and Civil and Human Rights Litigation practice groups and the Birmingham office managing partner. “The court not only dismissed Meta, TikTok, and the other social media defendants’ motions to dismiss and found that the claims were not barred by the Communications Decency Act or the First Amendment but also found, for the first time under New York law, that the plaintiffs properly alleged that the social media applications are indeed products under New York law. It’s time to hold the social media defendants—who have created and unleashed this Pandora’s box on our communities—responsible.”
The recognition by ALM and NLJ also comes as DiCello Levitt’s civil rights attorneys remain at the forefront of efforts to advance the cause of justice for individuals and communities, including numerous high-profile cases of police shootings, brutality, and misconduct and other abuses of civil rights.
In the past year alone, our attorneys have taken leading roles in the cases of James Williams, a 46-year-old Black man killed sniper-style by police in Canton, Ohio; Kaia Rolle, a Florida first-grader arrested and bound with zip ties by police after school administrators reported her to authorities; Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old unarmed Black man who was shot and killed in Akron, Ohio, by eight police officers who discharged a hail of more than 90 bullets; Randal Worcester, a homeless Native American man who was brutally beaten by Arkansas cops; Brandon Lee Cole, an unarmed father of three who was shot and killed by Denver police while holding nothing more than a black marker; and Zachary Fornash, a 24-year-old father shot and killed by police in Canton, Ohio, during an encounter that lasted less than two minutes. We also represent Cleveland resident Juan Taylor, who was wrongfully incarcerated for nearly two agonizing years on baseless and fabricated charges of arson and attempted murder, and the family of Glenn Foster Jr., a former player for the New Orleans Saints and a businessman, who died in the back of a police cruiser two days after being taken into police custody.