NY Attorney Sanctioned for Posting Nude Photos on Public Docket

A New York attorney was sanctioned $1,000 for posting nude photographs on the public docket a second time after the court placed them under seal the first time he posted them.

“In the digital age, when everything publicly filed on a court’s docket is readily accessible and transmittable, counsel have a particular obligation to behave responsibly and in a manner that reflects that reality,” Judge Denise L. Cote of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said Monday.

Cote used her inherent power to sanction attorney Jeffrey Chabrowe. She said that Chabrowe’s conduct related to his professional responsibility and he “acted in bad faith in twice choosing to file the photographs of the plaintiff on the public docket.” There was no excuse for doing that, she said, and bad faith can be inferred when “the action is completely without merit.”

“The public filing can only be interpreted as an attempt to humiliate and place improper pressure on the plaintiff,” Cote said. She also said that Chabrowe “repeatedly failed to acknowledge that he has acted improperly,” and rejected his contention that he didn’t know that the initial photographs were placed under seal.

Chabrowe was representing the defendants in a case where their former employer accused them of stealing millions of dollars from him. Chabrowe’s clients counterclaimed, alleging that the plaintiff asked them to engage in illegal acts for him and that he still owes them money.

Chabrowe sought a stay of the proceedings in August 2023 and attached four exhibits to the motion. He requested that three of the exhibits be sealed, but not the fourth, which included “sexually suggestive” pictures of the plaintiff nude or semi-nude. Cote sealed all four exhibits, and required Chabrowe to show cause why he shouldn’t be sanctioned for “filing on the public docket documents previously ordered to be filed under seal.”

When the plaintiff filed for summary judgment, Chabrowe opposed the motion and again filed “embarassing photographs of the plaintiff in the public record,” including many from the August filing, Cote said. The plaintiff then filed a request to have the pictures sealed.

Cote issued a second order in December requiring Chabrowe to show cause why he shouldn’t be sanctioned “for twice filing on the public docket sexually suggestive photographs of the plaintiff.”

Chabrowe said he wasn’t “aware of any per se law or rule that precludes the filing of semi-nude photos or clothed pictures of crotches on the public docket.”

“Common sense, common decency and standards of professional responsibility dictate that documents like this should be filed with restricted access until the opposing party has an opportunity to be heard on whether they should be sealed and the Court can rule on the matter,” Cote said.

Chabrowe represented himself. Brach Eichler LLC, Cory Morris of Hauppauge, N.Y., Richard Bruce Rosenthal of Huntington Station, N.Y., and Jeffrey A. Donner of Neptune, N.J., represented the plaintiff.

The case is Schottenstein v. Lee, 2023 BL 448383, S.D.N.Y., No. 22cv1197 (DLC), 12/11/23.