A hotheaded corporate lawyer became so enraged when he lost a ruling in a Brooklyn courtroom that he climbed over the small-time opposing attorney and hit him with his briefcase so hard, the injured lawyer needed back surgery, a new lawsuit alleges.
“He used the briefcase as a weapon,” foreclosure attorney Bruce Richardson, who filed the suit in Brooklyn Supreme Court, said of white-shoe litigator David Dunn.
“He was trying to send me a message that if you fight the big firm, I’m going to crush you,” Richardson maintained.
The Ivy League-educated Dunn, a Manhattan partner in the international corporate law firm Hogan Lovells, practically climbed over Richardson as he rushed to exit the courtroom in March 2013 after a foreclosure referee ruled against his client, Bank of New York Mellon, the suit claims.
Dunn already seemed annoyed at having to attend the proceeding before he left in a huff, Richardson claimed.
“Dunn forcefully knocked against [Richardson] and pressed down on plaintiff’s legs with significant force and weight,” the lawsuit states. “He also pushed and shoved plaintiff and hit him in his face and chest with [his] briefcase.”
“He was raising his voice, he was being very disrespectful to the referee,” said Richardson, who got his law degree from CUNY.
The courtroom devolved into chaos as the clerk stood blocking the courtroom doorway and shouted, “You just assaulted that attorney. I saw what you did. You just assaulted that man,” the suit states. Court officers took Dunn to a security office, but Richardson declined to press charges.
After leaving the courthouse, Richardson had pain in his back and legs and later had back surgery for a herniated disc, the suit states.
“It’s like something Judge Judy would handle,” said lawyer Roland Acevedo, who represents Richardson. “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.”
Dunn did not respond to requests for comment but a Hogan Lovells spokesman said, “These allegations are absolutely without merit. Beyond that we have no further comment.”