Sussman was chief operating officer for the plaintiff, Sky Development, and decided to text message Yizhak Toledano, another company executive and witness. The messages dealt with the dispute over the alleged misrepresentation of the sale of condos.
Judge Silverman stated “Let me be really frank about this. I never had this happen before. This is completely outrageous, absolutely outrageous.”
Toledano insisted “It was on a break.” To which Silverman stated the obvious: “It doesn’t matter. You are communicating about the case and the subject matter of the case with a witness who is currently under oath and before the jury.”
Toledano responded by saying: “I’m sorry, after we took the break, it’s not in the middle.”
Silverman:”It’s a problem on your communicating with the witness about his testimony whether it’s before the break, after the break and during the break while he’s testifying. This is outrageous.”
Opposing counsel stated publicly that Sussman has been previously told not to engage in such texting. William Petros stated that Sussman was chastised by a magistrate who served as a referee at a March 9 deposition for passing a note to the witness.
Recently, a Utah woman was sent away for 30 days for text messaging her husband from a courtroom, here.
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