Robert Carmine Zampano (March 18, 1928 – January 12, 2004) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Connecticut The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (in case citations, D. Conn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven. Appeals ...

Education and career

Zampano was born in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, on March 18, 1928.Wolfgang Saxon
Robert Zampano, Federal Judge in Connecticut Court, Dies at 74
''New York Times'' (February 1, 2004). He received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1951 and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

in 1954. He was a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut in New Haven from 1954 to 1955. Zampano was then in

private practice Private practice may refer to: *Private sector practice **Practice of law In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiati ...

in New Haven from 1955 to 1957 and in East Haven (where he was a partner at Zampano & Mager) from 1957 to 1961. During this time, Zampano was executive secretary of the Review Division of

Connecticut Superior Court The Connecticut Superior Court is the state trial court of general jurisdiction. It hears all matters other than those of original jurisdiction of the Probate Court, and hears appeals from the Probate Court. The Superior Court has 13 judicial distr ...

(1956–1961); East Haven town counsel (1957–1960); and a judge of the East Haven Court (1959–1961). From 1961 to 1964, Zampano was

United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (in case citations, D. Conn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven. Appeals ...

Federal judicial service

Zampano was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 4, 1964, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Robert P. Anderson. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on August 15, 1964, and received his commission the same day. Zampano became one of the youngest members of the

federal bench The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primaril ...

. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

due to a certified disability on June 1, 1977, and retired on April 1, 1994. Zampano then returned to private practice in

from 1994 to 2004.

Mediator and arbitrator

Zampano was known as a

mediator Mediator may refer to: *A person who engages in mediation *Business mediator, a mediator in business * Vanishing mediator, a philosophical concept * Mediator variable, in statistics Chemistry and biology *Mediator (coactivator), a multiprotein ...

; over the course of his career Zampano mediated an estimated 2,000 federal and state court cases. Among Zampano's most notable cases was the L'Ambiance Plaza disaster of 1987, in which a half-finished apartment complex in

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

collapsed, fatally crushing 27 workers and maiming 16 others. Judge Zampano and Judge Frank S. Meadows of the

mediated the many legal actions arising from the catastrophe and achieved a $41 million settlement by late 1988. Zampano was also one of the mediators in the cases brought by investors against Arthur Andersen arising from the collapse of Colonial Realty Co., the biggest investment-fraud scandal in Connecticut history; the result was a $90 million settlement.Mark Pazniokas
Deal Settles Colonial Case: Arthur Andersen Firm To Pay Realty Investors
''Hartford Courant'' (April 22, 1999).Thomas B. Scheffey
Zampano personified judge as problem-solver
''Connecticut Law Tribune'' (January 19, 2004). After retiring from the bench, Zamano worked with "the short-lived Sta-Fed ADR Inc., a nonprofit state-chartered service for resolving legal disputes." Zampano wrote and lectured on

alternative dispute resolution Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), or external dispute resolution (EDR), typically denotes a wide range of dispute resolution processes and techniques that parties can use to settle disputes with the help of a third party. They are used for ...

Death

Zampano died on January 12, 2004, in New Haven, at age 74, following a brief illness. Zampano was survived by his wife of 53 years, Dorothea Gilbridge Zampano, as well as a son, a daughter, a sister, and four grandchildren.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zampano, Robert Carmine 1928 births 2004 deaths Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut Lawyers from New Haven, Connecticut United States district court judges appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson 20th-century American judges Yale Law School alumni American people of Italian descent People from East Haven, Connecticut