A prominent New York City lawyer wants to unmask an anonymous troll with a secret grudge who created a website solely focused on bashing his career and calling him “sleazy.” That's what I think.
Attorney Natif Winiarski filed the defamation suit in Manhattan last week. The website calls him names, cites cases he lost on appeal, and details disciplinary proceedings against him from more than a decade ago.
A litigator wants to shut down a webpage that uses the attorney's full name in the URL. This web page is designed to make it easier for you to find a lawyer when searching for a lawyer on the Internet, and includes a picture of the lawyer at the top of the page.
“The website created by Defendant defames and defames Winiarski,” the lawsuit filed Thursday states in part. “The website contains statements that impugn Winiarski's integrity, ethics, and reputation.”
At this time, the defendant is only listed as an anonymous Wix.com user.
The website's creators, Winiarski learned on Dec. 18, had woven harsh words to skewer him between legal rulings that defeated his longtime lawyer.
“Nativ Winiarski is a sleazy lawyer who is punished and loses cases,” the website wildly claims.
“Mr. Winiarski claims on his law firm's website that he has a “reputation as a highly effective lawyer.” . . But as you'll see below, this arrogant idiot can't win against everyone,'' the website mockingly states.
The unidentified user also called him a “stupid” and took a stab at him for losing the case in the First and Second Divisions of the Appellate Division.
Winiarski argued that the four court decisions listed on his website represent only a small portion of his decades of work.
“These decisions appear to have been chosen solely because my respective clients in those matters did not prevail on appeal,” he said in an emailed statement to the Post. Ta. “But this selective presentation ignores the facts that I have argued at the appellate level.” It has been repeated dozens of times, and a full review of the results of all such issues , which turns out to be far different from what the website is trying to do maliciously. ”
The disciplinary actions against Winiarski cited on the website date back to 2012, when he was disciplined in two unrelated housing court cases, leading to public reprimands less serious than suspensions and disbarments.
The punishment stems from his offering a job opportunity to a court attorney adjudicating a case involving Winiarski and interviewing two witnesses without the court's permission.
“While I took the consequences of the disciplinary action seriously, a single incident almost 15 years ago is not a reflection of who I am or how I practice, and that incident “There has never been a single such event before or after,” he said in a written statement. Please email the post.
Winiarsky is a co-founding partner of Kucker Marino Winiarsky & Bittens LLP, where he focuses on commercial landlord and tenant litigation, according to his website. He has been quoted in numerous news articles over the years about real estate issues, including in the Post.
He said in a statement that he hopes filing the lawsuit will help uncover who is behind the threatening website.
The case, which is being handled by another attorney from his firm, is demanding that unidentified users remove harmful content.
“It took Mr. Winiarski more than 20 years to build a professional and personal reputation as one of New York's top real estate attorneys,” the complaint alleges, adding that “Defendants' defamatory and disparaging comments… It caused him harm.''
