The Brooklyn lawyer who stalled a trial by falsely claiming his mother had died threatened to sue reporters Thursday for chronicling his legal woes.
“Newark, New Jersey – you know where that is?” a red-faced John Nonnenmacher snarled at a group of journalists in a Brooklyn federal court hallway.
“If you participated in any articles, your name will be on it [the lawsuit]. It’s being filed today in Newark, New Jersey.”
Nonnenmacher delivered the parting shot as he got into an elevator — and just before his own attorney told him to pipe down.
The lawyer was in court for arguments over whether sanctions of up to $5,000 are appropriate against him and his former co-counsel Jason Leventhal.
In March, Nonnenmacher stalled a civil police-brutality trial in which he was the lead counsel by falsely claiming that his mother had died – when she was really very much alive.
In an affidavit, he said he called Leventhal early in the morning on March 21 and told him in a “hysterical conversation that my mom was about to die and I had to get to the hospital.”
“Mr. Leventhal’s apparent understanding that my mom was already dead would have been clarified had I not become so severely ill,” Nonnemacher added.
The attorney, who’s been practicing for nearly 30 years, also claimed he had been hospitalized after his “condition deteriorated” and was released on April 16.
The trial stemmed from a lawsuit filed by plaintiff Isa Martin who sued the city after allegedly being beaten by cops in 2010.
The suit was later voluntarily dismissed by Leventhal for reasons protected by attorney-client privilege.
On Thursday, Nonnenmacher’s attorney Harry Batchelder chalked up the court kerfuffle to “confusion.”
“[Nonnenmacher] denies he ever told co-counsel his mother was dead,” he told Judge Allyne Ross. “This case was not dismissed, this case was not shoved off, because of failure to prepare for trial.”
Batchelder also requested a hearing to “determine who said what to whom at what time.”
Lawyers for the city want Nonnenmacher slapped with $5,000 in penalties.
Ross will rule on the sanctions at a later date.
“I have to do some thinking,” Ross told the lawyers.
Batchelder, Leventhal and Martin’s new attorney declined to comment.
