CRYSTAL RIVER – A resident of Crystal River has filed a defamation lawsuit against a New York City law firm and its attorneys claiming it has sustained a smear campaign against him for more than 13 years.
Chassib Kassim Wahab filed the lawsuit in federal court against Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, Dahila B. Doumar, John D. Winter, and Yiling Livia Chen-Josephson, citing allegations of defamation and invasion of privacy.
According to the lawsuit, Wahab says the defendants have conducted a campaign against him for more than 13 years.
Wahab claims that since August 27, 2020, John D. Winter and his team have manipulated documents, made false statements and engaged in bad-faith practices to harm him deliberately, affecting his constitutional rights under the equal protection clause. Wahab claims he is a professional mechanic and that the defendants have made false and defamatory statements by referring to him as a "janitor." Additionally, Wahab claims false light invasion of privacy, asserting that the defendants published false statements that portrayed him in a negative light.
Wahab, who is representing himself in this case, is demanding a jury trial to seek $100 million in damages and other relief.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida case number 5:23-cv-00659