Stamell & Schager, LLP

Mr. Schager's expertise is in insurance, securities and corporate law and related litigation.  His recent transactional work has included an asset acquisition on behalf of a foreign manufacturer, buying the intellectual property and distribution rights from a U.S. company that had contracted for the manufacture of the products, and a proposed asset sale by a U.S. manufacturer to a private equity firm.  For over 15 years Mr. Schager was U.S. general counsel to a foreign insurance and brokerage company, which involved setting up an offshore captive insurer, acquiring onshore brokerage companies, preparation of reinsurance treaties, and negotiating the commutation of the insurance business after a change in corporate strategy. His experience in the captive insurance business also includes establishing a captive for closely-held businesses to qualify for the alternative tax treatment for small insurance companies under section 831 of the Internal Revenue Code.  He also has acted as counsel in a number of securities offerings, both public and private, and in compliance with reporting requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

His recent litigation work includes claims in Bankruptcy Court on behalf of approximately 100 former employees seeking unpaid deferred compensation, a negligence claim against a third party administrator on behalf of a major property/casualty insurer, a claim against a stop-loss insurer for wrongful denial of coverage, and an auditing malpractice claim against a major accounting firm on behalf of a not-for-profit organization.   He served as co-counsel in In re Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation, D.C. Circuit Docket 09-7023 & D.C. Dist. Ct. Docket 07-1869), and was lead counsel in Moelis v. Berkshire Life, Mass. Sup. Jud. Ct. Docket 07-10067 & Mass.Super.Ct. Docket 98-0302, in Ackerman v. Price Waterhouse, a case unique in certifying a class of limited partners for professional malpractice in the preparation of tax returns for their partnerships.  Decisions are reported at 198 A.D.2d 1, 604 N.Y.S.2d 721 (1st Dep’t 1993), 84 N.Y.2d 58, 620 N.Y.S.2d (Ct. App  . 1994); 216 A.D.2d 123, 629 N.Y.S.2d 5 (1st Dep’t 1995), and 252 A.D.2d 179, 683 N.Y.S.2d 179 (1st Dep’t 1998).

​As a member of the Committee on State Courts of Superior Jurisdiction and the Council on Judicial Administration of the New York City Bar Association, for ten years Mr. Schager has been active in promoting state class action reform.  He co-authored two report adopted by the Association proposing amendments to CPLR Article 9 on state class actions, the first in 2003 (58 The Record 316 and available on the New York City Bar website) and the second in 2015 (available at http://www2.nycbar.org/pdf/report/uploads/20072985-ClassActionsProposedAmendsArt9CPLRJudicialAdminLitigationStateCourtsReportFINAL11515.pdf.  Mr. Schager drafted proposed amendments to CPLR Article 9 that were approved by the Office of Court Administration of the Unified Court System (with one addition) and then introduced as Assembly Bill 9573 and passed by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.  Further action on this reform legislation is anticipated in the next legislative session.  In 2010 Mr. Schager was appointed by the Hon. Anne Pfau, then Chief Administrative Judge of the Unified Court System, to sit on the Electronic Discovery Working Group for the New York State Court System

Mr. Schager’s published commentaries include Adequacy of Class Representatives and Counsel Under CPLR Article 9, N.Y. Law Journal, July 7, 2015, Politicizing the Judicial Selection Process, N.Y. Law Journal, Feb. 28, 2013, Supreme Judicial Court Continues to Disfavor State Class Actions, Mass. Lawyers Weekly, Sept. 22, 2008, and Court of Appeals Decides Class Certification Issue, N.Y. Law Journal, November 26, 2019.

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​From 1985 to 1987, at the invitation of the Shanghai Bureau of Justice, Mr. Schager was a visiting law lecturer in the Commercial Law Department of the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade.  During this time he presented courses in contract law, the U.N. Convention on International Sales Contracts, corporate law, international trade law and the GATT.  Mr. Schager is a 1978 graduate of the Case Western Reserve Law School, where he was associate editor and managing editor of the Case Western Reserve Law Review.