John Nadolenco

John Nadolenco is the managing partner of Mayer Brown’s Los Angeles office and global co-chair of the firm’s technology industry group.

His recent victorious litigation includes Rostack Investments Inc. v. Sabella and Vellali et al. v. Yale University. In the Rostack case, Nadolenco led a team that successfully appealed a $90 million judgment, affirming the trial court’s decision on a $30 million loan that Rostack made to its deceased founder’s daughter, Angela Sabella.

After the team prevailed at trial, Sabella appealed the judgment, arguing that the trial court improperly refused to allow a portion of her case to go to a jury and that the judge’s fee award in Rostack’s favor was excessive.

This victory came after a protracted 14-year legal battle.

In the Yale University case, Nadolenco achieved a complete victory in a class action that claimed Yale had breached its fiduciary duty in monitoring the plan’s recordkeeping fees and investment lineup. This ERISA case, tried to a jury, resulted in Yale facing no liability, despite plaintiffs initially seeking more than half a billion dollars.

These cases are significant not only for their financial stakes, but also for their unique legal challenges. The Yale case, in particular, was noteworthy as one of the few ERISA cases tried to a jury, underscoring the complexity and rarity of such litigation.

“For Yale, any jury trial is taxing. But it was especially so since we lived in a hotel in Hartford, Connecticut for over a month,” he said. “On the Rostack case, its sheer length was taxing. It took us over a decade of hard-fought litigation to obtain trial and appellate verdicts in our client’s favor.”

Looking ahead, Nadolenco said the main trend he sees is the legal issues that arise from technology and data spreading to all industries.

“For instance, if you were a refrigerator manufacturer, your main litigation concern probably used to be product liability cases. But now, there are smart appliances,” he said. “So manufacturers may also need to consider privacy and data issues that they previously did not encounter.”

Beyond his courtroom achievements, Nadolenco is involved with Mayer Brown’s summer fellowship diversity program, which aims to provide diverse law students with valuable insights into working in a law firm and corporate in-house settings.