The clock is ticking for Alphonse “Buddy” Fletcher in his racial discrimination suit against the famed Dakota.
Yesterday, New York state Supreme Court Judge Eileen Rakower laid into Fletcher’s lawyer — the third to represent him — over his client’s foot-dragging.
“[Fletcher] has been missing one deadline after another. It’s enough,” Rakower told lawyer Nathaniel Read, adding that she did not know “if all of these delays have been in good faith.”
Read, who has been representing Fletcher only since Feb. 1, said “hundreds” of lawyers have been working to pull the material together.
Fletcher, who runs Fletcher Asset Management, sued the Dakota in 2011, arguing the board refused to let him buy a fifth apartment in the building because he is black.
The Dakota, however, said it doubted he could afford the $19.5 million apartment. Fletcher’s financial empire has been crumbling, and his main hedge fund is currently in bankruptcy.
Rakower told Fletcher’s lawyer to produce all documents by March 19, and said anything beyond that won’t be admitted at trial.