Armen Shahinian

Armen Shahinian practices in the areas of commercial litigation, construction litigation, fidelity and surety law, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights. He joined the firm in 1977 and today leads the firm’s nationally recognized Fidelity and Surety Group, one of the largest in the country.

Armen served as a member and chairman of the New Jersey Supreme Court District Ethics Committee for West Essex County from 1989 to 1993. He is a member of the American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, having served as Chair from 2000 to 2001. He is also a member of the ABA Litigation and Public Contract Law Sections. He has also served as a member of the Editorial Board of the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section’s quarterly publication The Brief and served as a member of its Continuing Legal Education Board.

Armen is a member of the Board of Directors of the Surety Claims Institute and Editor-in-Chief of its Newsletter. Currently, he serves on the Attorney Advisory Council of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers and is an Advisor to the Surety and Fidelity Claims Committees of the Surety & Fidelity Association of America. He also is a Trustee and Past President of the Legal Services Foundation of Essex County, and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. In the mid-1990s, Armen helped found the Fidelity Law Association and currently serves as Advisor Emeritus.

Armen has been honored by the American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Section's Fidelity and Surety Law Committee to receive its “2018 Martin J. Andrew Award.”

Armen is a graduate of New York University Law School where he served as associate editor of the Annual Survey of American Law.

Education

New York University (J.D., 1974)
Brown University (A.B., 1971)

Bar & Court Admissions

New Jersey
New York
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
U.S. District Court, Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western Districts of New York
U.S. Court of International Trade
U.S. Supreme Court

Recognition

Martin J. Andrew Award, American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Section's Fidelity and Surety Law Committee (2018)

Involvement

American Bar Association (Past Chair TIPS Fidelity & Surety Law Committee; Member, Litigation Section; Member, Public Contract Section)
Essex County Bar Association
The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation
Fidelity Law Association (Advisor Emeritus)
Legal Services Foundation of Essex County (Trustee and Past President)
National Association of Surety Bond Producers (Attorney Advisory Committee)
New Jersey State Bar Association
Surety & Fidelity Association of America (Advisor to Surety & Fidelity Claims Committees)
Surety Claims Institute (Member, Board of Directors; Editor-in-Chief, Newsletter)

Publications

Surety Bond Quarterly: Bonding Set-Aside Contractors - What Bond Producers and Sureties Should Know About Potential False Claims Act Liability (April 10, 2019)

Editor, NEW APPLEMAN ON INSURANCE LAW LIBRARY EDITION, Volume 10 Fidelity Insurance and Volume 11 Suretyship

“Definition of Employee” (Armen Shahinian and Andrew S. Kent), ANNOTATED COMMERCIAL CRIME POLICY 3d ed. (ABA 2015), Toni Scott Reed and Carlteton R. Birch, eds.

“Notice/Proof-Legal Proceedings Against Underwriter” (Armen Shahinian, Andrew S. Kent and Scott W. Lichtenstein), ANNOTATED FINANCIAL INSTITUTION BOND (Michael Keeley ed., 3d. ed. 2013)

“Who is a Covered ‘Employee’ under the Financial Institution Bond” (Armen Shahinian and Andrew Kent), FINANCIAL INSTITUTION BONDS (Duncan L. Clore ed., 3d ed. 2008)

“Obtaining and Using Regulatory Reports and Suspicious Activity Reports” (Armen Shahinian, Andrew Kent and Joseph Perry), Loan Loss Coverage Under Financial Institution Bonds, Chapter XI (ABA, Gilbert J. Schroeder, John Tomaine, eds. 2007)

Fraud in the Inducement as a Defense to Fidelity and Surety Claims TORT TRIAL AND INS. PRACTICE L.J., Vol. 42, No. 1 (ABA, Fall 2006)

Limits of Liability, Handling Fidelity Bond Claims (ABA, TIPS, 2005)

Bond, Contractual and Statutory Provisions and the General Agreement of Indemnity, Bond Default Manual (2005)

“The Subtleties of Insuring Agreement (C) of the Financial Institution Bond,” (Mark A. Gamin, Armen Shahinian and Andrew S. Kent; IX Fid. L.J. 115, Oct. 2003)

Law of Developers or Subdivision Bonds, The Law of Miscellaneous and Commercial Surety Bonds (ABA, TIPS, 2001)

“The General Indemnity Agreement,” Chapter 27, The Law of Suretyship, 2nd Ed. (Armen Shahinian; ABA TIPS, E. Gallagher, Ed. 2000)

Alerts

Court Holds Surety May be Liable for Reverse False Claims Act Damages Due to Agent’s Knowledge of Principal’s Fraudulent DBE Scheme (August 2017)

Freelance May Not Be Free, but Who Pays? Concerns Facing Sureties in Light of New York City Council's Enactment of "Freelance Isn't Free" Act (December 2016)

Seventh Circuit Affirms Denial of Discharge in Bankruptcy Arising out of Contractor's Defalcation of Trust Funds, Rejecting Contractor's Claimed Ignorance of Applicable Trust Fund Statute (June 2015)

Federal Regulations Amended to Allow Agencies to Decline to Accept Bonds from Treasury Listed Sureties "For Cause", Providing Contracting Officers a New Cudgel (November 12, 2014)

New Jersey Appellate Division Limits Gentilini Ford (November 5, 2013)

RELATED PRACTICES

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Education

Bar & Court Admissions