Thomas S. Vangel

With extensive experience representing clients in the areas of business litigation and bankruptcy, Thomas Vangel’s litigation practice includes commercial, franchise, automotive, banking, director and officer liability, landlord/tenant, and non-compete litigation. In his bankruptcy practice, Thomas is devoted to the representation of Chapter 7 and 11 Trustees, secured and unsecured creditors, landlords and creditors’ committees. He also frequently represents corporate clients in defending complex preference claims and other litigation brought by bankruptcy estate representatives. Thomas has significant trial experience in the state and federal courts in Massachusetts.

Thomas has lectured to various groups including the National Association of Credit Management, American Bankruptcy Institute, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and the MIT Center for Real Estate. He is a former member of the adjunct faculty at New England School of Law and a former Managing Editor of the New England Law Review.

Thomas served as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee from 2007 through 2012, is a former Chair of the Firm’s Business Litigation Practice Group, and currently serves as Chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee. He served as partner in charge of the Boston office from 2000-2003.

Representative Cases

• In January and February 2014, successfully represented a publicly traded regional bank in lender liability case involving a failed 108 unit housing development.  After a ten day trial in Superior Court, recovered $4.8 million judgment for the bank client plus attorneys’ fees and defeated entirely a $5.8 million counterclaim asserted by the developer. 


• Represented the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers and two individual dealers before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in May 2014 in a landmark franchise law case involving Tesla Motors.



• Representing the Chapter 7 Trustee in several matters in the case of In re: Inofin, Inc. currently pending in Boston.  Serve as lead counsel in litigation involving the security interest granted to the funding source for this sub-prime automotive lender for an $8 million portfolio of used car loans.

• Representing the Chapter 7 Trustee in all matters concerning the Bluewater Hld. Corp. case including claims regarding the validity and priority of liens and director and officer liability claims.

• Recovered $11 million judgment in August 2011 for a bank client in the Massachusetts Superior Court in connection with litigation brought against guarantors of a failed 200 unit condominium development.

• Represented the Chapter 7 Trustee in all matters in the Get Connected, Inc. case including director and officer liability claims and all litigation brought in this case.

Publications

• "E & O and D & O Liability Insurance and Claims in Bankruptcy", American Bankruptcy Institute, 2014
• “Practical Pointers for Dealing with Non-Compete Agreements”, Association of Employment Professionals, 2011
•  "When it comes to terminating a restaurant franchise, know all facets of the relationship" Restaurant News, May 1999, Co-Author
• “Hot Topics in Franchise and Distribution Law" MCLE 1999, Co-Author

• Appellate Practice
• Auto Dealership
• Banking
• Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights
• Bankruptcy Litigation
• Business Litigation
• Community Banking
• Distributor, Dealer, Franchise Group
• Lender Liability Litigation
• Litigation
• Retail, Restaurant & Hospitality
• Unfair Competition, Trade Secrets and Non-Competition Agreements

• Massachusetts Bar Association (Former member of Trial Practice and Procedure Committee)
• Boston Bar Association, Bankruptcy and Litigation Sections
• American Bankruptcy Institute
• Boston Lawyers Group, Executive Committee, 2009

• Elected to 5 person Executive Committee of Murtha Cullina LLP 2007-2012
• Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Commercial Litigation since 2013 (Copyright 2015 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC)
• Holds an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Rating from Martindale-Hubbell
• Selected as Massachusetts Super Lawyer, every year since 2005

• South Shore Hospital, Board of Directors, since 2005
• Caritas Communities, Inc. Braintree, MA, Director, 1998-2001
• Hingham Yacht Club, Executive Committee, since 2007
• Boston Lawyers Group, Executive Committee since 2010

• August 15, 2017 - 35 Murtha Cullina Attorneys Receive “Best Lawyers in America” Recognition; Three Named “Lawyer of the Year”
• August 16, 2016 - Attorneys Receive "Best Lawyers" Recognition
• November 5, 2014 - Murtha Cullina LLP Becomes New Host for the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity

• April 2016 - Automotive Law Group News: Appellate Court Win for Massachusetts State Auto Dealers Association
• March 17, 2016 - Thomas S. Vangel and James F. Radke Successfully Represent Automobile Dealers Association in Massachusetts Appeals Court
• December 9, 2015 - Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights News: Updated Forms for U.S. Bankruptcy Court
• June 5, 2015 - Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights Group Update: Good News for Banks! Junior Mortgage Liens Protected in Chapter 7 (At Least for Now)
• April 23, 2015 - Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights News
• Auto Dealer Alert

• September 8, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Lends a Helping Hand to Inadvertent Lender Omissions in the Execution of Mortgage Acknowledgements
• March 29, 2016 - CommunityBankingInsights.com: Lender Beware: The Tragic Consequences of Defective Mortgage Acknowledgments in Massachusetts

• April 27, 2017 - Tom Vangel and Mark DeGiacomo Speaking at MIT Center for Real Estate on Chapter 11 Real Estate Bankruptcies
• April 13, 2017 - Tom Vangel speaking at the MIT Center for Real Estate on Forbearance Agreements for Troubled Real Estate Loans
• April 6, 2017 - Tom Vangel speaking at MBA Complex Litigation Symposium on D&O Claims and Insurance in Bankruptcy
• April 21, 2016 - Dan Cohn and Tom Vangel lectured to graduate students at the MIT Center for Real Estate on Chapter 11 real estate bankruptcy cases
• April 14, 2016 - Tom Vangel lectured to graduate students at the MIT Center for Real Estate on negotiating forbearance agreements in a troubled real estate development context

• Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts

• New England School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 1988)
• University of Massachusetts (B.A., summa cum laude, 1985)