The doormen at Cipriani's event space on 42nd Street might need to work on their hospitality? According to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court this week, employees at the soaring space beat the crap out of a urologist trying to pick his wife up from a cancer fundraiser last summer—and then tried to frame him to make it look like he started it.
Dr. Mark Nogueira and his wife Jessica Nowillo, a psychiatrist, say that Cipriani’s security guards punched Nogueira last June when he arrived to pick Nowillo and her sister up from a party hosted by the storied Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. See, when they arrived Nogueira and a friend had "a minor disagreement" with one of the doormen. So naturally, according to the suit, the men were invited in and then attacked from behind by the Cipriani employees. Nogueria's lawyer says the urologist was punched so hard he landed face-first on the sidewalk, broke his elbow and suffered a concussion.
What's worse, the Cipriani folk called the cops on the doctor, claiming criminal trespass. He was even arrested, though charges were later dropped when one of the bodyguards was charged with assault. Now the doc is seeking unspecified money damages for assault and malicious prosecution. Cipriani reps have not yet responded to an e-mail asking for comment.
