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David S. Golub

Partner

(203) 325-4491
Fax: (203) 325-3769
dgolub@sgtlaw.com

David S. Golub is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School and is a partner in Silver Golub & Teitell LLP, which he helped found in 1978. Throughout his legal career, he has sought to utilize the law to further a commitment to constitutional and civil rights and protection of the disadvantaged in a trial and appellate practice encompassing virtually every aspect of litigation. He is currently the head of the firm’s Class Action & Complex Litigation Practice.

Mr. Golub has devoted a substantial portion of his practice to constitutional, civil rights and other pro bono matters. Although a lifelong Democrat, he successfully represented the Connecticut Republican Party in a voting rights case in the United States Supreme Court, establishing the right of a political party, rather than the State, to determine who may vote in a party’s primaries. He has represented The New York Times and Times Mirror Corporation in First Amendment litigation, one of Connecticut’s senators in a case involving the constitutional rights of persons with intellectual disabilities as well as Connecticut’s Chief State’s Attorney in civil rights litigation. Mr. Golub has represented the NAACP, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and other state and national civil rights organizations and parties in constitutional litigation, appearing on behalf of such organizations in amicus roles in litigation involving diverse issues such as discrimination in education, the rights of mother and child and state death penalty litigation. Mr. Golub has argued twice before the United States Supreme Court, more than 40 appeals in the federal courts of appeal and on numerous occasions in Connecticut’s appellate courts. He has litigated cases in state and federal courts across the country.

Mr. Golub served as lead private counsel for the State of Connecticut in its sovereign enforcement action against the tobacco industry and participated in the nationwide litigation leading up to the national settlement that resulted in a $3.6 billion recovery for the State of Connecticut. Connecticut’s leading role in the nationwide litigation was specifically recognized by a special panel of former attorneys general, which concluded that the contribution of Connecticut’s legal team to the national settlement was among the top five of the 57 states and other entities involved in that litigation. As a result of that finding, the State received a special award of an additional $370 million of the national settlement proceeds.

Mr. Golub has also maintained an active trial practice for individual plaintiffs. He obtained the first plaintiff’s verdict for an injured smoker ever rendered in New England, winning a judgment ultimately totaling (with interest) more than $52 million after lengthy trial and appeal proceedings. The verdict was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and, in related proceedings, by the Connecticut Supreme Court, establishing the standards for recovery against cigarettes companies under Connecticut product liability law. He successfully represented a news anchorwoman in a highly publicized gender discrimination and retaliation trial against the Post-Newsweek Company, obtaining an $8 million verdict for her. He won a $10 million verdict for an executive in a wrongful termination lawsuit against Exxon Corporation in one of the first cases to use tort remedies in employment litigation and secured a $4 million judgment for a former employee of IBM as a result of a private security firm’s wrongful invasion of his privacy. Mr. Golub represented Ernie Cobb, a former basketball star at Boston College who was accused of point shaving in a highly-publicized case involving Henry Hill of “Goodfellas” fame. Mr. Cobb was acquitted after a jury trial in federal court in Brooklyn.

A long-time opponent of the death penalty, Mr. Golub helped overturn the death penalty in two pro bono cases in Florida cases. He was appointed to serve as lead counsel on behalf of Connecticut’s death row inmates challenging the discriminatory application of Connecticut’s death penalty laws in a special proceeding authorized by the Connecticut Supreme Court. The peer-reviewed study of the administration of capital punishment in Connecticut developed in the case was cited by the Connecticut Supreme Court in its 2015 decision declaring Connecticut’s death penalty statutes unconstitutional.

Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Golub taught clinical trial practice at the University of Connecticut School of Law for two years and, after leaving the UConn faculty, taught trial practice at Yale Law School for a number of years on an adjunct basis. He has been an invited speaker before Connecticut and national legal associations and lay groups. Mr. Golub has received the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s annual award for outstanding volunteer contributions by a private attorney to legal assistance for the poor. He has been recognized as a “lawyer who makes a difference” for his work in tobacco litigation. He is a recipient of the Paul J. McQuillan Public Service Award from the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association for his work in helping to abolish the death penalty in Connecticut. He has been recognized in numerous categories in Best Lawyers in America since its inception in 1984 and as one of the top attorneys in Connecticut and New England by Super Lawyers, which featured him on the cover of Connecticut Super Lawyers in 2007. In 2015, he received The Connecticut Law Tribune’sProfessional Excellence Award,” honoring his distinguished legal career, and in 2016 he received the “Learned Hand Award” from the American Jewish Committee for the excellence of his legal work and contributions to the community.

Mr. Golub is currently serving as lead counsel for Connecticut’s public employee unions and their employees in ground-breaking First Amendment class litigation barring a state from ordering mass layoffs of union employees to coerce collective bargaining concessions. In that litigation, the unions and more than 40,000 union employees have recovered nearly $250 million dollars in lost wages and pension benefits and other awards. Mr. Golub helped the United States government recover $150 million in a whistleblower action against a major defense contractor, then the largest amount ever recovered under the federal False Claims Act. He was lead counsel for 70 Connecticut municipalities seeking recovery of money lost because of the Enron scandal, winning a $35+ million judgment after trial, then the largest amount ever awarded against a public entity in Connecticut. Mr. Golub also served as lead counsel in a class action against Xerox Corporation for violation of ERISA pension laws, obtaining a settlement providing increased pension benefits to approximately 40,000 present and former Xerox employees in what was then the largest class action in Connecticut history. He was also on a team of Class counsel that obtained a $75 million recovery against The Hartford on behalf of structured settlement annuitants denied full annuity policy benefits, and he was counsel for the Town of Fairfield, CT, pension funds in litigation that enabled the Town to recover its $15 million losses from investments with Bernard Madoff.

In 2020, he joined on a team of class counsel in emergency class action litigation against the Federal Bureau of Prisons that produced a settlement providing crucial COVID protections to inmate at FCI Danbury.

Significant Cases

  • From 1996-98, he served as lead private counsel for the State of Connecticut in its action against the tobacco industry, part of the nationwide litigation resulting in the national settlement that provided a $3.6 billion recovery for the State. Connecticut’s leading role in the nationwide litigation was specifically recognized by a special panel of former attorneys general, which concluded that the contribution of Connecticut’s legal team to the national litigation and settlement was among the top five of the 57 states and other entities involved in the litigation. As a result of that finding, the State received a special award of an additional $370 million of the national settlement proceeds.[1]
  • From 2002 to date, he has served as lead counsel in a class action for Connecticut’s public employee unions and union employees challenging the legality of mass layoffs of thousands of unionized public employees, ultimately obtaining a precedent-setting ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that the layoffs violated the unions’ and union members’ First Amendment right to freedom of association, resulting in a $100+ million settlement with the State for 40,000 unionized public employees approved by General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee.[2]
  • From 1988-1994, he represented the relator in a federal False Claims Act action against United Technologies Corporation, resulting in a $150 million recovery for the United States, at the time the largest amount ever obtained in an FCA action.[3]
  • From 2003-09, he served as lead counsel in a class action for 70 Connecticut municipalities to recover for losses sustained as a result of a quasi-public trash authority’s improper dealings with Enron Corporation, resulting in a $35.8 million judgment after trial (believed to be largest award ever rendered in Connecticut against a public entity), upheld on appeal by the Connecticut Supreme Court.[4]
  • From 2005 to date, he has served as lead attorney for Connecticut death row inmates challenging the constitutionality of the administration of capital punishment in Connecticut on racial disparity grounds in a special proceeding authorized by the Connecticut Supreme Court.[5]
  • In the 1970s and 1980s, he worked on two pro bono Florida death penalty cases obtaining the reversal of the sentence and reversal of conviction.[6]
  • In 1986, he successfully argued a voting rights case on behalf of the Connecticut Republican Party in the United States Supreme Court, establishing the right of a political party to conduct open primaries.[7]
  • In 2015, he successfully represented the Connecticut Democratic Party in an election eve challenge to campaign finance practices.[8]
  • In 1984, he obtained acquittal for Ernie Cobb, a Boston College basketball star, on federal charge of point-shaving in Brooklyn federal court.[9]
  • From 1983-87, he served as lead counsel in nationwide class action for 40,000 Xerox pensioners, then the largest class action in Connecticut history, resulting in a settlement that provided increased pension benefits for approximately 40,000 present and former Xerox employees.[10]
  • From 2005-10, he represented defrauded owners of structured settlement annuities in a nationwide class action against Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., resulting in a $75 million recovery for over 20,000 defrauded class members.[11]
  • In 1991, he obtained a $1+ million judgment for a private taxi company in an anti-trust action against a municipal transit district, upheld by the Connecticut Supreme Court in 1995.[12]
  • From 2008-13, he represented the Town of Fairfield and its pension plans in litigation that enabled the Town to successfully recover $15+ million it had invested in Madoff-related investment vehicles.[13]
  • In 2009, he obtained a $1+ million recovery after trial for an Army reservist denied reinstatement as a financial advisor on return from active duty, upheld by the Second Circuit in 2011 in a precedent-establishing case under the Uniform Services Employment and Remployment Act.[14]
  • In 1986, he obtained a $10+ million verdict for a wrongfully terminated Exxon executive in one of first cases to apply tort theories to employment cases.[15]
  • In 1999, he obtained an $8+ million gender discrimination and retaliation verdict for Post-Newsweek-Channel 3 news anchorwoman.[16]
  • In 2010, he obtained a verdict and award of $28 million for an injured smoker suffering from effects of smoking-related larynx cancer, the first verdict in a smoking case ever rendered in New England.[17]
  • In 1978, he and his partner, Richard A. Silver, obtained a verdict of $3.6 million after a medical malpractice trial in Stamford, the first verdict of more than $1 million in Connecticut history.[18]

[1]  State of Connecticut v. Philip Morris, Inc., et al, CV-96-0148414-5(X02) (Conn. Super. CLD at Waterbury).

[2]  State Employees Bargaining Coalition, et al v. Rowland, 718 F.3d 126 (2d Cir. 2013), cert. denied, 134 S.Ct. 132 (2014).

[3]  United States ex rel. Keeth v. United Technologies Corporation, Civ. No. H-89-323 (AHN) (D. Conn.).

[4]  Town of New Hartford, et al v. Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, 291 Conn. 433 (2009).

[5]  In re Racial Disparity, TSR-CV-05-4000632 S (MIS) (Conn. Super. at Rockville), appeal pending, Connecticut Supreme Court, S.C. 19252.

[6]  Proffitt v. State, 510 So.2d 896 (Fla. 1987); Proffitt v. Wainwright, 756 F.2d 1500 (11th Cir. 1985);  Proffitt v. Wainwright, 685 F.2d 1227 (11th Cir. 1982);  Brown v. Wainwright, 785 F.2d 1457 (11th Cir. 1986).

[7]  Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut, 479 U.S. 208 (1986).

[8]  Republican Party of Connecticut v. Democratic Party of Connecticut, 2014 WL 6844181 (Conn. Super. Oct. 30, 2014).

[9]  United States v. Ernie Cobb, (E.D.N.Y. 1983).

[10] Anglim v. Xerox Corporation, B-83-2511 (EBB) (D. Conn.).

[11]  See Spencer, et al v. Hartford Financial Services Group, et al, 256 F.R.D. 284 (D. Conn. 2009).

[12]  Westport Taxi Service, Inc. v. Westport Transit District, 235 Conn. 1 (1995).

[13]  Retirement Programs of the Town of Fairfield v. Madoff, et al, FST CV 09 5023735 S (Conn. Super. CLD at Stamford).

[14]  Serricchio v. Wachovia Securities, LLC, 658 F.3d 169 (2d Cir. 2011).

[15]  Dowie v. Exxon Corporation, Civ. No. B-83-468 (TFGD) (D. Conn).

[16]  Peckinpaugh v. Post-Newsweek Stations Connecticut, Inc., 3:96 CV 2475 (AVC) (D. Conn).

[17]  Izzarelli v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, 806 F. Supp.2d 516 (D. Conn. 2011), question certified to Connecticut Supreme Court, 731 F.3d 164 (2d Cir. 2014), appeal sub judice, S.C. 19232.

[18]  Pisel v. Stamford Hospital, 180 Conn. 314 (1980).

Successfully Taking on Industry Giants

He has represented The New York Times and Times Mirror Corporation in First Amendment litigation, the Chief State’s Attorney for the State of Connecticut in a civil rights action and one of Connecticut’s U.S. senators in a case arguing the constitutional rights of the mentally retarded.

In 1986, he successfully argued a voting rights case in the United States Supreme Court establishing the right of a political party to determine who may vote in a party primary. He was also involved in an amicus role in Connecticut’s landmark school desegregation decision.

In the employment sphere, Mr. Golub has successfully represented plaintiffs in numerous discrimination, ERISA, and other employment-related actions in state and federal courts. Most recently, he obtained a multimillion-dollar recovery for a former executive at Ultramar Corporation, twice obtaining reversal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit of adverse rulings in the district court.

  • In 1986, Mr. Golub prosecuted a fraud and breach of contract action against Exxon Corporation in Bridgeport federal court, resulting in a $10 million verdict in favor of a former Exxon employee, then one of the highest employment law verdicts for an individual in the country.
  • In 1987, he was lead counsel in a class action against Xerox Corporation for violation of ERISA pension laws, resulting in what is believed to be the largest class action case in Connecticut history, involving a settlement affecting approximately 40,000 present and former Xerox employees.
  • In 1989, Mr. Golub obtained a $4 million judgment for a former employee of IBM as a result of a private security firm’s wrongful invasion of his privacy.
  • In 1992, he successfully concluded a nearly ten-year battle to obtain severance benefits for 178 former employees of Olin Corporation, obtaining a $4 million settlement.
  • In 1999, Mr. Golub obtained a verdict of over $8 million for a female news anchor terminated from her position by a Connecticut television station.
  • In 1984, Mr. Golub represented Ernie Cobb, a former basketball star at Boston College accused of point shaving. Cobb was acquitted after a jury trial in federal court in Brooklyn. Mr. Golub also has been involved in representing two inmates on death row in Florida, successfully helping to obtain a reversal of the death sentence in both cases.

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