Joseph J.Zelasko (Joe)

Associate

Columbus + 1.614.281.3810

Joe Zelasko represents clients in complex commercial disputes in state and federal courts and in arbitral proceedings. He focuses his practice on high-stakes construction matters, including cases involving allegations of fraud, breach of contract, and commercial extortion. Joe also has significant experience representing clients in a number of other industries, including sports and higher education.

Joe's experience includes work for Fluor, Nationwide Realty Investors, Cardinal Health, the University of Notre Dame, and the Big Ten Conference. Joe's recent representations include assisting a renewable energy contractor in a dispute with a joint venture partner concerning ongoing operations in Puerto Rico and representing one of the world's largest steel producers in a federal trial involving breach of contract and fraud claims stemming from a construction project.

Joe also maintains an active pro bono practice focused on immigration law. He has represented individual clients and an immigrant justice organization before the immigration courts and the United States Courts of Appeals. Prior to joining Jones Day, Joe clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Experience

  • Cardinal Health persuades Sixth Circuit to uphold Ohio District Court's remand order in insurance coverage actionJones Day prevailed in a Sixth Circuit appeal on behalf of Cardinal Health, Inc.
  • Wells Fargo-led syndicate of lenders successfully negotiate secured $1.1 billion restructuring credit facility for Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT)Jones Day represented Wells Fargo Bank, National Association (“Wells Fargo”), as administrative agent, in connection with the Chapter 11 financial reorganization plan of Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (“PREIT”), a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and manages a portfolio of shopping malls totaling over 23 million square feet of retail space.
  • Venezuelan cousins fleeing political persecution win withholding of removalOn March 17, Jones Day obtained withholding of removal for pro bono clients S and O, twenty-year-old cousins who had been persecuted by the Maduro regime in Venezuela.