Christopher John Belter

Christopher Belter, a senior trial partner at Goldberg Segalla, dedicates his practice to resolving complex commercial, construction, and intellectual property disputes. He has represented clients in courts and arbitration forums in more than a dozen states over the course of his two-decade career, during which he has taken more than 100 trials and arbitrations to verdict or award. He is the chair of Goldberg Segalla’s Corporate Services and Commercial Litigation Practice Group, a team of 50-plus lawyers practicing across the firm's entire footprint, and chair of its 40-member Construction Practice Group.

In the commercial litigation arena, for which he and his team are recognized in the Chambers USA Upstate New York directory, Chris has achieved successful outcomes for a broad range of companies in complex disputes involving contractual relationships, misappropriation and fraudulent conveyance, commercial leases, licensing, claims of tortious interference, and other issues. He also defends directors and officers in matters involving allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, and bad faith, as well as claims brought by the FDIC and the SEC.

With experience handling dozens of cases involving claims of trademark and copyright infringement, he is particularly adept at helping companies enforce their intellectual property rights and protect their invaluable brands.

In construction litigation, an area for which he is listed in the Best Lawyers in America, Chris handles breach of contract, delay and acceleration, design and construction defect, performance and payment bond, and other high-value claims for contractors, construction managers, and others in connection with large-scale private and public construction projects. He has extensive experience with complex litigation and alternative dispute resolution involving major solar, wind, and other renewable energy projects.

He is a longstanding member of the Commercial Litigation Steering Committee at the Defense Research Institute (DRI), the largest organization of defense attorneys in the country, and a past national chair of its Construction Committee. He co-authored the New York chapter in DRI’s Construction Litigation Desk Reference: A State-by-State Compendium, and he is a frequent speaker to national audiences on minimizing damages in contract disputes, litigation strategies in lawsuits combining business tort and intellectual property claims, and other topics in his areas of concentration.

Experience Highlights
Commercial Litigation
Defending at trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery a corporation’s directors and officers against breach of fiduciary duty and more than 10 other claims brought by certain shareholders over a disputed business merger
Obtaining for an owner of music royalties a rare multimillion-dollar recovery in a complex misappropriation and fraudulent conveyance action that reached across both domestic and foreign jurisdictions
Defending a $13 million commercial claim against a top soft drink manufacturer over the termination of a New York City distribution route
Defending a multimillion-dollar breach of contract and improper termination claim brought by a studio owner against the producer of a major-network television show
Defending the manufacturer of one of the world’s most popular sport drinks against a competitor’s $15 million tortious interference claim
Defeating through motion practice an injunction that sought to shut down six major metropolitan locations of a national pizza chain
Obtaining summary judgment for a construction supply manufacturer on complex warranty claims for roofing materials
Successfully guiding a value-added reseller of a major software suite through investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Defense, and other entities following the acquisition of the software developer by a computer industry giant
Defeating through motion practice a prospective class action alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act

Construction Litigation
Securing a $70 million arbitration award for a national renewable energy contractor in a complex construction development dispute that involved issues of public bond and federal grant financing, construction delays and design deficiencies, claims of liquidated and consequential damages, and construction trust fund misappropriation; the award was rendered after extensive litigation and two months of arbitration hearings
Recovering through arbitration more than $4 million for a wind energy transmission contractor in a case involving major change order and delay and acceleration claims related to a storm
Representing a pipeline installation contractor in disputes totaling over $100 million involving natural gas pipelines serving the hydrofracking industry; the case involves major delay claims, back-charge claims related to earth-slips, and complex and novel issues regarding the scope of the lien law
Representing a construction manager in an arbitration arising out of claims asserted by a private university for construction defects involving masonry, roof, and building envelope issues
Obtaining summary judgment in favor of a commercial financer of hotels and resorts in a multimillion-dollar dispute over the financing arrangement for the construction of a timeshare property

Intellectual Property Litigation
Defending a modeling agency in a jury trial in the Southern District of New York against copyright infringement and tortious interference claims brought by a photographer seeking over $10 million in damages
Defending a regional craft brewery against claims of trademark infringement from a nationally distributing brewery
Representing a major tobacco company in a trademark infringement case against sellers of counterfeit cigarettes, resulting in the successful seizure of all counterfeit product, recovery of several hundred thousand dollars in statutory damages, and a permanent injunction