Lawyers for Mayor Adams have told the court they will seek to have the sexual assault lawsuit against the mayor tossed after the mayor’s accuser, Lorna Beach-Mathura, missed a deposition that had been scheduled for Sept. 6.
“In the nearly ten months since Plaintiff initiated this lawsuit, she has refused to appear for her deposition on four separate occasions, and each time without any justification under the law,” wrote lawyer Alex Spiro in a court filing Monday.
Beach-Mathura most recently skipped a deposition set for Sept. 6, with no prior warning and no explanation given since, according to the lawyer, who called it “only the latest episode in a months-long pattern of Plaintiff’s willful delay and frustration of the discovery process.”
According to the lawyer, Beach-Mathura and her attorneys gave reasons for why they could not make previous potential dates for the deposition in May, July, August for the deposition, saying that they first needed to see more documents, had to review more materials or that they were unavailable.
Sept. 6, the date of the fourth attempt for the deposition, “was the latest date” the lead counsel for Adams could do, Spiro wrote.
If the court cannot dismiss the complaint, Spiro wrote, the defendants should be awarded attorneys’ fees
for preparing for the deposition and making the associated court filings.
At a contentious court hearing in August, Beach-Mathura and Adams lawyers accused each other of withholding information — with the accuser’s lawyer, Megan Goddard, even threatening to sue the mayor’s lawyer for defamation.
Beach-Mathura, a former Transit Police employee, has accused Adams of exposing himself and attempting to get her to perform oral sex on her in his car after they met to discuss a job issue. Adams ejaculated on her leg after she refused, the suit claims.
Adams has denied the 1993 alleged assault happened. The suit, which seeks at least $5 million in damages, was filed earlier this year under the Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year window for victims of sexual offenses to sue their assailants if the statute of limitations had expired.
Court filings show Beach-Mathura retained a new attorney, Nathaniel K. Charny, last Friday. He did not return a request for comment late Monday. Megan Goddard, the attorney who first helped Beach-Mathura file the case against Adams, confirmed to the Daily News that she’s also still representing her.
Goddard would not immediately say why Beach-Mathura allegedly was a no-show for her deposition.
The next court date is set for later this month.
With Chris Sommerfeldt
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