Judge Admits Trial By Combat Is Available In New York... Then Declines To Order It

The litigation over the right to trial by combat in New York rages on!

Several months ago we wrote about Richard A. Luthmann, the Staten Island attorney seeking trial by combat to resolve a dispute alleging that he helped a former client fraudulently transfer assets.

Now a New York state judge has weighed in and determined that while Luthmann is indeed correct that trial by combat is absolutely a viable option for resolving a legal dispute, he would decline to order it in this matter:

This week, state Supreme Court Justice Philip G. Minardo ruled in a one-page decision that the case would be resolved without medieval violence. Justice Minardo did, however, agree with Luthmann that in theory, the court had the power to sanction a trial by combat. Luthmann, his honor still apparently besmirched, filed a notice to appeal the judge’s ruling to a state appellate court.

So you’re saying the case has hit a dissatisfying end and now we have to wait an interminable amount of time for a conclusion? This really is a Game of Thrones remedy.

For those who don’t recall why Luthmann went down this road, it all started after the other side filed a motion to preclude Luthmann from filing a lawsuit against them:

“They tried to say that I was the facilitator, that I tried to do this and that,” says Luthmann. “And I said to them, ‘You guys are a bunch of idiots. If I’m that bad of an actor, why didn’t you see me from the very beginning?’” Luthmann responded by filing a motion to dismiss, and using other legal processes to frustrate the plaintiff’s case. Finally, the other side filed a motion to preclude and restrain Luthmann from filing a lawsuit against them.

“I said, ‘If I’m a lawyer and I’m not allowed to file papers, then this is the end of things—we might as well go to trial by combat,” Luthmann says. “We might as well get out the swords and the shields at dawn and settle it that way. I met their absurdity with absurdity in kind.”

And even though he brought his motion to prove a point, the devoted Game of Thrones fan is ready to rumble. He’s even explained to the local news how he’d win his fight to the death, and it’s amazing:

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The “Warhammer of Robert Baratheon.” Hm. Watching this guy barely hold his own with a plastic Mjölnir (“Whosoever holds this hammer, if he have $10.99, shall possess the power of… LARPing”), I have some serious concerns about his warhammer chops. That said, I guess I haven’t seen his potential adversaries practice. And maybe Luthmann is a real expert and just trying not to tip his hand in this video — the reporter does note that the office boasts something of a toy arsenal to practice with.

Still, of all the fanciful toys apparently filling this guy’s office, I’m pretty sure the most ludicrous is the “Make America Great Again” hat over his shoulder in this interview.

No ‘Game of Thrones’ throwdown: trial by combat nixed for lawyer Richard Luthmann [SI Live]
This Game of Thrones-Loving Lawyer Explains Why He’s Seeking a Trial by Combat [Good]
‘Trial by combat’ lawyer: How I’d win a fight to the death [SI Live]

Earlier: Is Trial By Combat Coming To NYC?
Trial By Combat: It Was Real And Spectacular

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