Jonathan Zellner is a partner at the firm and practices primarily in the areas of professional liability, employment law, and municipal liability. He regularly defends legal malpractice, vexatious litigation, and abuse of process claims, attorney disciplinary proceedings, veterinary malpractice claims, and licensure complaint proceedings against veterinarians. He also defends employers in employment discrimination actions in state and federal court and against charges of discrimination filed with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. Jonathan’s representative experience also includes defending municipalities, boards of education, planning and zoning commissions and other municipal bodies, and municipal officials against claims arising under federal constitutional and civil rights laws and state tort laws. Jonathan’s trial experience includes co-chairing the defense of a month-long trial of a traumatic brain injury action against a municipal board of education, which resulted in a verdict for the board of education.
Jonathan also routinely handles appellate matters in state and federal court and has argued before the Connecticut Appellate Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He has obtained numerous favorable decisions from the Supreme Court of Connecticut, the Connecticut Appellate Court, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirming or otherwise directing the dismissal of actions against his clients, including:
- Handsome v. Town of Monroe, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 12830 (2d Cir. May 29, 2024) (affirming summary judgment for a municipality, planning and zoning commission, and assorted former commissioners and municipal officials in an action alleging violations of the plaintiffs’ due process, First Amendment, and equal protection rights with respect to action taken concerning a special exception permit for the plaintiffs’ property);
- Northeast Building Supply, LLC v. Morrill, 224 Conn. App. 137 (2024) (finding that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the plaintiff’s application for a prejudgment remedy alleging vexatious litigation claims against the defendants and remanding with the direction to render judgment dismissing the application);
- Doe v. Board of Education of Westport, 213 Conn. App. 22 (2022) (affirming summary judgment for a municipality, board of education, and school officials in an action alleging that the defendants failed to adequately investigate and respond to reports of bullying);
- Martin v. Town of Simsbury, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 2570 (2d Cir. Jan. 27, 2022) (affirming summary judgment for a municipality, inland wetlands commission members, and municipal officials in an action alleging that the denial of a building permit to the plaintiff amounted to an unconstitutional taking of the plaintiff’s property);
- Doe v. Town of Madison, 340 Conn. 1 (2021) (affirming summary judgment for a municipality, board of education, and school principal on the grounds of governmental immunity in consolidated cases alleging sexual abuse by a former teacher);
- Freiberg v. Stuart, 841 F. App’x 315 (2d Cir. 2021) (affirming summary judgment for an attorney in a vexatious litigation lawsuit);
- Jenkins v. Road Scholar Transportation, LLC, 835 F. App’x 619 (2d Cir. 2020) (affirming summary judgment for a trucking company and driver in a vehicular collision case);
- Cleary v. MacVicar, 813 F. App’x 12 (2d Cir. 2020) (affirming dismissal of claims against a Guardian ad Litem in a case alleging deprivations of the plaintiff’s child custody and visitation rights);
- Borg v. Town of Westport, 685 F. App’x 10 (2d Cir.) (affirming dismissal of claims against a municipality and police officers in an action alleging an unreasonable search of the plaintiffs’ property), cert. denied, 138 S. Ct. 558 (2017);
- Beard v. Town of Monroe, 666 F. App’x 62 (2d Cir. 2016) (affirming summary judgment dismissing equal protection claims based on alleged unequal treatment of the plaintiff compared with other allegedly similar property owners);
- McNeice v. Town of Waterford, 607 F. App’x 103 (2d Cir. 2015) (affirming summary judgment for the defendant municipality and municipal officials in an action alleging an unreasonable search of the plaintiff’s property).
Jonathan was selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers Rising Stars in 2021 and was invited to be listed in The Appellate Lawyers, an online guide to leading appellate lawyers across the United States, as the recommended attorney and firm in Connecticut in 2022. He is a member of the Connecticut Defense Lawyers Association and the Fairfield County Bar Association. Jonathan is admitted to practice in Connecticut, the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
