A New York state judge has dismissed false arrest and assault claims filed by a Queens lawyer who contended he was treated poorly at the Office of Court Administration in Manhattan after attempting to leave with security guards a response to an adjournment request by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
Court of Claims Judge Alan C. Marin wrote that it appeared from testimony that the worst treatment the lawyer, Thomas J. Hillgardner, received during the August 2006 incident — other than guards refusing to accept his papers — was that Court Officer Charles Hollon followed the lawyer into the street and placed the papers into Hillgardner’s arms in an effort to return the documents. “An incidental touching with a valid intent to return papers does not constitute assault,” Judge Marin ruled in Hillgardner v. State of New York, 112978.
