K&L Gates Sues U of Wash. Prof, Says He Threatened Partner Over His Wife's Divorce
A prominent professor at the University of Washington has been sued by K&L Gates for allegedly threatening a female partner who represented his wife in a divorce case.
After partner Mabry DeBuys received four anonymous “highly intimidating, outrageous, depraved and vicious” e-mails in a 24-hour period in July 2009, the firm hired security for its offices and DeBuys, it says in the King County Superior Court suit. The litigation seeks damages for the costs incurred by K&L Gates and to protect firm personnel in the future, a spokesman tells the Seattle Times.
Defendant Oren Etzioni, 46, a venture capitalist who serves as director of the University of Washington’s Turing Center on computer science, was identified in November 2009 as the author of the e-mails, the article says.
He apologized in a written statement to the newspaper that appears implicitly to admit he wronged the firm during a period of “anguish” over the divorce. He said he has tried to make amends and hopes to settle the matter amicably.
A spokesman for the University of Washington tells the newspaper that the institution “would only be involved if this impinged somehow on his performance,” and says “this appears to be a personal matter.”
