Companions
Ex-BigLaw companion proven in tirade movies sues influencer for allegedly destroying his profession
TikTok screenshots present social media influencer Robert Harvey and an inventory of instances during which lawyer Allan A. Kassenoff was the lead counsel for Samsung, together with the tags @Samsung and @SamsungUS. Photos from Kassenoff’s Sept. 5 lawsuit.
A former Greenberg Traurig companion has sued a social media influencer for allegedly posting “false, defamatory and deceptive movies” that sought to depict him as an abusive father and partner.
The previous companion, Allan A. Kassenoff, sued influencer Robert Harvey in a Sept. 5 lawsuit for allegedly destroying his life, in addition to the lives of his three minor kids, who appeared within the movies with out their faces blurred.
Bloomberg Law and Law360 have protection.
The movies confirmed Kassenoff yelling, telling then-wife Catherine Kassenoff that he hates her and regrets ever assembly her, calling her a “fats, previous loser” and declaring that he received’t take their “spoiled” daughter to highschool or actions.
The go well with additionally mentioned Harvey instructed his followers to “bombard” Greenberg Traurig and considered one of its greatest purchasers, Samsung, with emails, cellphone calls and social media assaults, which brought about Kassenoff to lose his job. And the go well with mentioned Harvey instructed his followers to focus on Kassenoff’s New York divorce lawyer, Gus Dimopoulos, who can be a plaintiff within the new go well with.
Kassenoff resigned from Greenberg Traurig in June, after the legislation agency investigated the state of affairs arising from a four-year divorce and custody battle. Kassenoff had been a shareholder within the patent litigation group.
Harvey is the previous media director at a Pensacola, Florida-based private damage agency.
The go well with delves into the couple’s deteriorating relationship and airs claims that it was Catherine Kassenoff who was unfit to guardian.
Catherine Kassenoff had claimed to have terminal most cancers in a Could Fb publish asserting her plan to die by medically assisted suicide. However the analysis declare didn’t seem like true, the go well with mentioned. Allan Kassenoff mentioned he checked along with his spouse’s oncologist, and he or she didn’t have most cancers at her most up-to-date annual appointment in November 2022.
Catherine Kassenoff apparently had psychological sickness, in response to an affidavit by a former nanny in divorce litigation that was cited within the new go well with.
The nanny allegedly instructed Allan Kassenoff that his spouse had requested her to drip water on the face of the couple’s weeks-old child to maintain her awake throughout the day, in hopes that she would sleep via the evening. The nanny additionally claimed that Catherine Kassenoff performed favorites with the kids, barring the unfavored baby from playdates, giving chores solely to her, limiting her meals treats, and telling her that she would by no means have pals.
One other nanny submitted an affidavit in prior litigation that criticized Catherine Kassenoff’s remedy of the unfavored daughter and mentioned Allan Kassenoff was good to all his daughters and was by no means violent with them. The nanny mentioned Catherine Kassenoff actually pushed Allan Kassenoff in his feelings, and he or she wished the ladies to see how indignant he may turn out to be.
After Allan Kassenoff filed for divorce, he and his spouse at first shared custody of the ladies, with every guardian buying and selling off caring for them within the marital residence. Allan Kassenoff was later awarded sole authorized and bodily custody of the kids. Catherine Kassenoff’s visits with the kids had been to be therapeutically supervised.
A decide within the case decided that Catherine Kassenoff made false allegations of abuse towards Allan Kassenoff, engaged in manipulative conduct, tried to alienate the kids from their father, and lacked perception into how her actions had been detrimental to the kids.
Based on the go well with, Harvey falsely instructed his followers that he had executed his due diligence concerning the info within the Kassenoff matter, and that all the things he mentioned was truth. His alleged false statements embody that Allan Kassenoff bodily and emotionally abused his spouse and his kids, that police stories and baby protecting providers confirmed the abuse, and that Allan Kassenoff was awarded custody due to a corrupt court docket system and his payoffs.
The go well with alleges defamation, intentional infliction of emotional misery, tortious interference with a enterprise relationship, and cyberstalking. It seeks an injunction stopping the importing of latest movies and barring new feedback about Kassenoff and his lawyer. The go well with additionally seeks $150 million for Kassenoff and $5 million for every of the three kids.
Greenberg Traurig instructed Bloomberg Regulation in an announcement that Kassenoff resigned June 11.
“That is an unlucky state of affairs for the household however now we have no extra remark with respect to the claims,” the agency mentioned.
Legal professionals for Harvey mentioned in an announcement he’s “dedicated to vigorously defending the meritless claims” within the go well with.
“Harvey goals to guard not solely his personal constitutional rights but in addition these basic ideas upon which this nation was based—the suitable to freedom of speech and the liberty of the press,” the assertion mentioned.
“Harvey operates as a member of the media, using his social media platform to analyze and report on crucial problems with nationwide significance. This contains shedding mild on what he perceives because the troubling practices prevalent inside household and matrimonial courts throughout the nation, significantly in New York (and on this case, Westchester County).”
The assertion mentioned the go well with is an try “to rewrite historical past.”
“Harvey views these allegations as a spiteful revenge lawsuit in an try to silence him and his reporting about Catherine Kassenoff’s torturous plight all through her divorce from Mr. Kassenoff,” the assertion mentioned.
Catherine Kassenoff instructed her aspect of the story in a Fb publish and positioned paperwork, photos, recordings and movies in a folder obtainable to the general public. Harvey was made conscious of the matter via his followers “after which opined and reported on it as a member of the press,” the assertion mentioned.
Harvey is represented by the Davidoff Regulation Agency and the Regulation Places of work of Aaron Resnick.
Up to date Sept. 9 at 10:25 a.m. to incorporate the assertion by Robert Harvey’s attorneys.
