BigLaw partner used his briefcase 'as a weapon' to bash opposing counsel, lawsuit says
A partner of one of the world’s biggest and best-known corporate law firms used his briefcase “as a weapon” to bash opposing counsel as he left a Brooklyn courtroom conference room after an adverse ruling by a referee in a foreclosure hearing last year, a lawsuit contends.
Plaintiff Bruce Richardson says he needed back surgery as a result of the alleged attack by partner David Dunn of Hogan Lovells. Richardson’s suit says his opposing counsel struck him with the briefcase on his face and chest as Dunn exited a cramped hearing room in which the two legal adversaries were seated next to each other, according to the New York Daily News and the New York Post.
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Richardson said he declined to press charges at the time of the March 2013 incident because of concern that doing so might adversely affect Dunn’s professional status. However, he began to experience pain in his back and legs after leaving the courthouse and had to have surgery a month later for a herniated disc, he says in the Brooklyn Supreme Court suit. It seeks unspecified damages to cover medical expenses, lost wages and loss of enjoyment of life.
“It’s like something Judge Judy would handle,” attorney Roland Acevedo, who represents Richardson, told the Post. “This is about a court case where an attorney got too personally involved, got angry at a court ruling, and took it out on his adversary.”
Hogan Lovells spokesman Robert Snoddy told the New York Daily News: “These allegations are absolutely without merit. Beyond that, we have no further comment.”
