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SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF NEW YORK
DANIEL SZALKIEWICZ & ASSOCIATES, P.C. and
DANIEL SZALKIEWICZ,
Plaintiffs, VERIFIED COMPLAINT
-against-
Index No. :
VIVIAN LIU a/k/a VIVIAN XUANFEI LIU a/k/a XUANFEI
LIU,
Defendant.
Plaintiffs DANIEL SZALKIEWICZ & ASSOCIATES, P.C. (“DS&A”) and DANIEL
SZALKIEWICZ (“Szalkiewicz” and, with DS&A, “Plaintiffs”), as and for their Verified
Complaint hereby allege, upon information and belief, as follows:
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
1. Plaintiffs were hired and did act and appear as attorneys for defendant VIVIAN
LIU a/k/a VIVIAN XUANFEI LIU a/k/a XUANHEI LIU (“Liu” or “Defendant”) with regard to
a defamation lawsuit filed against her in Middlesex County, New Jersey by a man named Pankaj
Sharma (“Sharma”).
2. The lawsuit (annexed hereto as Exhibit 1) alleged that Liu had anonymously
contacted Sharma’s employer on social media and anonymously created a website in Sharma’s
name with false claims that Sharma “was found guilty of harassment” and had “molested and
injured a young woman after he refused to have sex with her.”
3. Plaintiffs, on behalf of Liu, successfully demanded transfer of the case to federal
court and, following the transfer, Sharma amended his complaint against Liu (Exhibit 2),
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including allegations that “Liu was attempting to blackmail him for $10,000.00 owing to the
injuries he allegedly ‘caused’ her by recommending yoga stretches for her back.”
4. Liu has admitted to creating the website and contacting Sharma’s employer
(Exhibit 4, ¦¦10-11).
5. Plaintiffs represented Liu in that matter for nearly one year – filing two motions to
dismiss and filing a summons with notice in New York Supreme Court, among other legal work
– before bringing an Order to Show Cause seeking relief from representation (annexed hereto as
Exhibit 3). The supporting declaration cited that “conflicts have arisen between our firm and
Ms. Liu which lead us to seek withdrawal as attorneys in this matter.”
6. Following Plaintiffs’ representation of Liu, she began to engage in a harassive
course of conduct against Plaintiffs which she indicated was designed to harm Plaintiffs’
business.
7. More specifically, Liu created a website using Plaintiff Szalkiewicz’ true name
which she used and continues to use to impersonate and disparage Plaintiffs. Liu also routinely
creates and updates online reviews about Plaintiffs on sites like Yelp, Avvo, BBB, and Google.
8. A sampling of the harassive messages Liu sent following the conclusion of
Plaintiffs’ representation highlights the maliciousness of her acts:
• Please die.
• Go fucking die you piece of shit.
• You’re an entitled piece of garbage, you won’t refund me but are demanding that I
stop texting you. Why do I have to do what you want?
• You should die you money hungry scam artist. Return my money you greedy piece of
garbage.
• Return my money you scum. With the review, anyone who looks you up knows the
kind of lawyer you are, your business will continue to suffer.
• I’ll make sure this follows you for the rest of your pathetic career, you greedy
disgusting pig.
• If you have the balls to blow up your own life and your family’s, then do it, because
you will be the one ending up being prosecuted which you would deserve for diverting
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police and prosecutorial resources from real crimes to someone sending you critical
text messages.
• I hope you get hit by a car and end up unable to walk and in pain every day you piece
of garbage. I hope lawyers take advantage of you so they can make a living off of you
and no one help you. It’s because of you I will never get justice for what Sharma did
to me. Go fucking die.
• The world would be a better place without garbage people like you, the legal
profession would be better place without shitty money hungry lawyers like you. Go
off yourself. Die you piece of shit.
• You're despicable and disgusting, the way you pretend to want to help people. In
reality, you fuck your own clients over and never apologize. Where is your conscience
that you kept saying you have? You are such a piece of garbage. You deserve to go
out of business and lose your license.
• Hey asshole! When are you going to call the police and have them put me in jail?
What?No balls because you know criticizing you isn't a crime and this isn't
harassment. You said my texts were absurd, how about calling the police because you
don't like being criticized? Return my money asshole.
• Return my money you fucking garbage person
• Return the amount you scammed from me and I'll stop texting you.
Copies of the nonprivileged portions of the text messages are annexed hereto as
Exhibit 14.
9. Among the many themes of Defendant’s harassive text messages were statements
that she would stop harassing Plaintiffs if they refunded her legal fees, including: “Return the
amount you scammed from me and I’ll stop texting you” and “Since you won’t return the
money, that’s fine. I look forward to costing you as much as you’ve cost me.”
10. Eager to end the harassment, Plaintiffs provided Liu with a settlement agreement
whereby she agreed to stop attacking Plaintiffs in exchange for a full refund of her paid fees.
11. After receiving the settlement agreement, Liu apparently believed she could extort
more money from Plaintiffs than her legal fees and indicated the money was not enough for her
to discontinue her course of conduct.
12. When a higher offer did not come, she then uploaded the settlement agreement
onto the website she had created – redacting the laundry list of offenses she had committed
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against Plaintiffs – to make it appear as though the refund was based on Plaintiffs’ misconduct as
opposed to their desire to be free from Defendant’s ongoing threats and harassment.
13. Plaintiffs have come to learn that Defendant Liu has undertaken nearly identical
conduct against the third firm she hired to represent her in the defamation case against her,
repeating her claims nearly verbatim (Mancilla & Fantone, LLP et al v. Vivian Liu,
450521/2024).
14. Because Defendant Liu has created all three known websites anonymously, only
Defendant Liu knows how many other individuals and companies she is currently harassing or
has previously harassed online.
15. Plaintiffs have done everything within their power to resolve this matter without
involving the courts but have finally come to realize that giving into Liu’s extortionate demands
is not a permanent solution and the only way to obtain relief from Liu’s hate-fueled attacks is to
initiate a legal claim against her.
THE PARTIES
16. Plaintiff Szalkiewicz is and was, at all times relevant to this action, a resident of
the County of New York, State of New York.
17. Plaintiff DS&A is and was, at all times relevant to this action, a law firm and
domestic limited liability corporation organized under the laws of the State of New York.
18. DS&A maintains and has always maintained its principal place of business in the
County of New York, State of New York.
19. Defendant is and, at all times relevant to this action was, a resident of the County
of Kings, State of New York.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS PERTAINING TO ALL CAUSES OF ACTION
I. Liu is Sued for Defamation, Invasion of Privacy, Retains Plaintiffs
20. On October 27, 2020, Sharma filed a Verified Complaint against Liu in the
Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County (Exhibit 1).
21. The Verified Complaint alleged, among other things, that Liu had “created and
registered an eponymous web page under the website ‘www.pankaj-sharma.com,’…wherein Liu
made defamatory and false statements about Sharma” (Exhibit 1, ¦6).
22. Sharma also alleged that Liu “using…pseudonyms…made false and defamatory
statements on Sharma’s employer, Con Edison’s interactive Twitter and Facebook pages alleging
that Sharma ‘was found guilty of harassment’ and that he ‘molested and injured a young woman
after he refused to have sex with her.’” (Exhibit 1, ¦7).
23. Shortly after the case was transferred to the United States District Court for the
District of New Jersey, Sharma filed a far more detailed Amended Complaint (Exhibit 2).
24. The Amended Complaint alleged that the two had gone on a weekend trip to the
Poconos, during which time Liu got injured during a physical altercation with another
vacationer, proceeded to go ziplining despite her injury and then, upon the parties’ return to the
greater New York/New Jersey area, invited him for lunch where she attempted to blackmail him
for $10,000 (Exhibit 2, ¦¦9-17).
25. The Amended Complaint provides that when Sharma declined to pay Liu the
demanded amount, she filed charges against him for harassment in Monroe County (Exhibit 2,
¦22). The Amended Complaint continues, describing a pattern of harassment nearly identical to
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the one undertaken by Liu against Plaintiffs, down to her creation of a website in Sharma’s name
(www.pankaj-sharma.com) and multiple posts on social media furthering her claims (Exhibit 2,
¦¦30-33). Like Liu’s attacks against Plaintiffs in this case, her online harassment against Sharma
was undertaken anonymously.
26. The Amended Complaint also alleged that Liu had personally contacted Sharma’s
wife via LinkedIn and, after Sharma’s wife blocked Liu, that “Liu repeatedly bothered her using
different pseudonymous e-mails” (Exhibit 2, ¦¦42).
27. Liu openly admitted to posting the information online in a pro se complaint she
filed in a case she brought against Sharma in New York (Exhibit 5, ¦47).
II. Liu Cycles Through Four Firms
28. DS&A first appeared as Liu’s attorney in the state court action on November
2020, shortly thereafter filing a motion to remove the case to federal court (Exhibit 6).
29. Once the case was moved to federal court, Plaintiffs filed two motions to dismiss,
each one unique due to Sharma’s amending of the underlying complaint (Exhibit 7).
30. Plaintiffs further filed a Summons with Notice against Sharma in New York
Supreme Court to preserve Liu’s claims against Sharma there (Exhibit 8).
31. Plaintiffs filed an Order to Show Cause to withdraw as counsel on October 26,
2021 (Exhibit 7, p. 5).
32. David D. Lin, Esq. was substituted as attorney on October 27, 2021 (Exhibit 7, p.
5).
33. On November 9, 2021, Robert Mario Fantone, Esq. was substituted for David D.
Lin, Esq. (Exhibit 7, p. 5).
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34. On February 24, 2022, Robert Mario Fantone, Esq. filed an Order to Show Cause
to withdraw as counsel (Exhibit 7, p. 5).
35. Elena Fast, Esq. filed a notice of appearance on June 11, 2022 (Exhibit 7, p. 5).
36. A text order dated July 19, 2022 indicates Sharma and Liu were making efforts to
settle the case and a letter submitted by Sharma’s counsel on August 25, 2022 indicated that the
parties had entered into a confidential settlement agreement (Exhibit 9).
III. Attorney-Client Relationship Ends, Liu Alludes to Future Harassment
37. Plaintiffs’ motion to withdraw as counsel was administratively terminated on
October 29, 2021 as Liu retained new counsel (Exhibit 10).
38. Szalkiewicz notified Liu that DS&A no longer represented Liu and directed her to
cease all contact unrelated to assistance with Liu’s legal file.
39. Just days later, on November 2, 2021, Liu’s text message threats and harassment
against Plaintiff Szalkiewicz began and continued for over a year:
• You're a fraud and a horrible attorney. You should stop advertising yourself as a
saint who helps victims, those blatant lies on your website. You caused me so much
unnecessary stress and grief because of your lack of respect for other people's time
and your feeling that it's beneath you to return calls and messages. You're so
disorganized, you can't get it together to help anyone except to cover your own ass.
What drives you is not your desire to help clients but your ego and hero complex.
This has been a disaster. (November 2, 2021)
• You're not as good of a person or attorney as you think you are. As attorney you are
aware of statute of limitations, how do you justify wasting half a year of a client's
time after they have informed you that they want to sue someone who sexually
assaulted them and still claim that you've done nothing wrong? We'll find out if that's
the case. (November 8, 2021)
• You're never sorry, unfortunately, you're only ever sorry that your conduct and
actions are not well received. I would have appreciated if you had not wasted half a
year of my time. What's inappropriate is how unprofessional your conduct was. There
are no threats in the messages, it is to inform you. (November 8, 2021)
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• Whether or not your conduct was unprofessional and unethical, it's not for us to
decide at this point. (November 9, 2021)
• The messages inform you why, it's not because I want to harm you but because you
have harmed me and my case. It's actually a service to you to know in advance.
(November 9, 2021)
• You already know (November 9, 2021)
• What don’t you know? (November 9, 2021)
• I hired David who I didn't trust but has experience with defamation cases and who
charged me $90 to just to sign a substitution form. I ended up hiring a greedy lawyer
who I can't trust because of you. It's delusional and ridiculous that you insist you
have only helped me. (November 9, 2021)
• Yes, there will be a complaint against you. (November 11, 2021)
• There will also be a complaint against you with the grievance committee. It's
unfortunate that you lack ethics. (November 12, 2021)
• I'm just telling you what is going to happen. (November 12, 2021)
• You can write all the fake positive reviews you want, I’ll continue to expose the trash
that you are in my review (September 17, 2022)
• Return my money you fucking garbage person (February 11, 2022)
(See Exhibit 14).
40. Liu’s November 9, 2021 messages alluded to the harassment she had planned and
explained her smear campaign was being undertaken in retaliation for the perceived harm
Plaintiffs had caused her.
41. Notably, Plaintiffs are not divulging the legal strategy involved in the defamation
case against Liu and her decision to pursue a defamation claim against Sharma due to attorney-
client privilege. However, Plaintiffs assert that Liu has waived the attorney-client privilege by
placing Plaintiffs’ advice in issue online and making selective disclosure of such advice in
multiple public forums online.
42. Further, Defendant Liu’s uploading of multiple documents online waives her
privilege as to those documents and other documents pertaining to the subject matter of those
documents.
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43. Accordingly, Plaintiffs reserve the right to amend this Complaint upon receipt of
a finding that Liu’s actions have placed Plaintiffs’ advice in issue, resulting in waiver of
privilege.
IV. Liu’s Online Harassment – Social Media
44. Privately, Liu’s behavior toward Plaintiffs became increasingly more aggressive
as time passed and morphed from complaints about case strategy and assorted misrepresentations
of truth to directions that Plaintiff Szalkiewicz kill himself.
45. Publicly, Defendant Liu’s allegations were as abundant as they were creative,
spinning tiny truths into factual inaccuracies and strategically omitting details to turn herself into
a victim.
46. Overall, Defendant Liu’s behavior can only be described as being specifically
designed to harm Plaintiffs’ business with knowing disregard for the mistruths she needed to
make to do it.
i. Defendant Liu’s Google Reviews
47. Since Plaintiffs withdrew as Liu’s attorneys, Liu has written multiple false and
derogatory online reviews on Google’s review platform using her true name, her initials, and
pseudonyms.
48. The current version of Liu’s Google Business Review of Daniel Szalkiewicz &
Associates, P.C. provides:
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Daniel threatened to make a false report to the police and have me falsely
arrested for a crime after I confronted him about him lying to me, not
doing his job and charging me thousands of dollars. He tried to force me
to remove the review to protect his business. Daniel pays for/writes fake
positive reviews to bury and contradict negative reviews. He's writing
reviews thanking himself for imaginary work he never did and then
responding to the reviews as himself. I have the call logs and text
messages to prove that he never called me back. I have proof of him
threatening me and more.
Daniel charged me many thousands of dollars to write a motion to dismiss
that he knew would fail. He did not gather or provide any evidence to
support the motion despite having months to do so. He encouraged me not
to countersue which was against my best interest and lied to me about
which state had personal jurisdiction. He procrastinated for half a year
while the statutes of limitations were running out then angrily blamed me
for him not completing the work. He never returned calls. Daniel is very
good at pretending that he's a good guy who wants to help you. Daniel
advertises himself as someone who helps victims but that's all marketing.
Daniel will take your money and take advantage of the fact that you don't
know the law. You will not get the treatment and respect you deserve from
Daniel. He only cares about money, he does not care how his conduct
adversely affects you or your case.
49. Upon information and belief, other Google Reviews were made on April 20,
2022; March 26, 2022; May 31, 2022; and August 7, 2022. These reviews were nearly identical
as the ones above, alleging “Daniel threatened me after I confronted him about him lying to me,
not doing his job and charging me thousands…”
50. On or about March 22, 2022, using her true name, Liu wrote a one-star review on
Google’s review platform.
51. Fake names used by Liu to leave negative reviews on Google’s review platform
include David W, who wrote a one-star review on May 13, 2022 and Peter Isaac, who left
another one-star review on October 11, 2022 which stated, in part “Would not recommend.
Terrible attitude and very poor communication skills. He is too lazy to answer emails or pick
up…”
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ii. Defendant Liu’s Yelp Reviews
52. On or about December 17, 2021, Liu wrote the following one-star review on
Yelp:
Daniel advertises himself as someone who helps and fights for victims but
that's all marketing, that's not who Daniel is. Daniel procrastinated for half
a year while the statutes of limitations were running out then angrily
blamed me for him not completing the work. He repeatedly lied about
working on the case. It took him half a year to begin working on the case.
Daniel never returned any of my calls during the year he was my lawyer.
Daniel feels that the rules of professional conduct that attorneys have to
follow shouldn't apply to him. You will not get the treatment and respect
you deserve from Daniel. You will be working harder on the case than he
is. Daniel does not care about clients.
Update: Daniel sent me messages after seeing this review, his only
concern was the review and protecting his business. He did not care how
his conduct adversely affected me or my case.
53. On or about September 17, 2022, Defendant “updated” her review,
writing:
threatened to make a false report to the police and have me falsely arrested
for a crime after I confronted him about him lying to me, not doing his job
and charging me thousands of dollars. He tried to force me to remove the
review to protect his business. Daniel pays for/writes fake positive reviews
to bury and contradict negative reviews. He's writing reviews thanking
himself for imaginary work he never did and then responding to the
reviews as himself. I have the call logs and text messages to prove that he
never called me back. I have proof of him threatening me and more.
Daniel charged me many thousands of dollars to write a motion to dismiss
that he knew would fail. He did not gather or provide any evidence to
support the motion despite having months to do so. He encouraged me not
to countersue which was against my best interest and lied to me about
which state had personal jurisdiction. He procrastinated for half a year
while the statutes of limitations were running out then angrily blamed me
for him not completing the work. He never returned calls. Daniel is very
good at pretending that he's a good guy who wants to help you. Daniel
advertises himself as someone who helps victims but that's all marketing.
Daniel will take your money and take advantage of the fact that you don't
know the law. You will not get the treatment and respect you deserve from
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Daniel. He only cares about money, he does not care how his conduct
adversely affects you or your case.
54. Liu has additionally created three other Yelp reviews using fake names.
55. Using the name “Carl M.” Liu wrote on September 19, 2022:
This firm lawyers at this firm are very deceptive and incompetent. Daniel
filed paperwork for the wrong case on the docket, he didn't even realize
his mistake. I spoke with many lawyers after him, they all told me that a
lot of what he told me wasn't true. His firm has hundreds of cases, he takes
on any case if it will make him money. After working with Daniel, I
strongly suspect that many of the positive reviews are written by Daniel
himself, he is definitely not responsive. There are definitely much better
lawyers.
56. Using the name “John B.” Liu wrote on September 16, 2022:
Daniel Szalkiewicz is the worst lawyer and the most unprofessional person
I've worked with. He is unresponsive to clients and to opposition counsel,
you never know what's going on with the case. He advised me not to
countersue which was terrible advice, after I found another lawyer and
countersued, the other party offered money to settle. His business model is
taking on as many cases as possible. Even if the cases don't go anywhere
or is dismissed, he'll still make thousands off of his clients.
57. Using the name “Peter I.” Liu wrote on December 30, 2021:
Would not recommend. Terrible attitude and very poor communication
skills. He is too lazy to answer emails or pick up the phone. It really seems
like he hates being a lawyer. Nothing gets done unless you constantly
follow up with him.
58. All three accounts have zero friends and have only written one review.
Recognizing the hallmarks of online harassment, Yelp suppressed three of the reviews,
however they are still visible to the public with the click of a button.
iii. Defendant Liu’s Avvo Reviews
59. Liu also wrote reviews on Avvo.com. Her October 21, 2022 review indicated:
Daniel doesn’t know the law and is lazy.
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Daniel advised me not to countersue, after I hired another lawyer, the
opposition offered money to settle. Daniel’s legal advice was incorrect, he
was wrong about a lot of things. Hiring Daniel was a mistake that cost me
tens of thousands of dollars. He was very unresponsive and lazy.
60. Liu’s December 12, 2021 review on Avvo.com alleged:
Regret Hiring Daniel Szalkiewicz
Would give Daniel Szalkiewicz negative stars if I could, Daniel was rude
and condescending for no reason. He will drop your case if you call him
out on his lack of diligence and communication. Daniel is prideful and his
ego demands that you to be grateful that he took your case even if he
doesn’t get things done or return your calls. Choosing to hire Daniel is a
very regrettable decision.
61. Defendant Liu also made disparaging comments about Plaintiffs on Avvo.com on
December 8, 2021; December 10, 2021; December 11, 2021; and January 15, 2023.
iv. Defendant Liu’s BBB Review
62. On or about January 1, 2022 Defendant also wrote a negative BBB review
concerning Plaintiffs, which stated:
Daniel advertises himself as someone who helps and fights for victims but
that’s all marketing, that’s not who Daniel is. Daniel procrastinated for
half a year while the statutes of limitations were running out then angrily
blamed me for not completing the work. He repeatedly lied about
working on the case. It took him half a year to begin working on the case.
Daniel never returned any of my calls during the year he was my lawyer.
Daniel feels that the rules of professional conduct that attorneys have to
follow shouldn’t apply to him. You will not get the treatment and respect
you deserve from Daniel. You will be working harder on the case than he
is. Daniel does not care about clients.
63. On January 29, 2022, Defendant admitted to writing the review in a text
message to Plaintiff Szalkeiwicz, stating:
You had a complaint on better business bureau from 07/19/20 and
removed your profile off the website after I posted a review. That's
pathetic, you really don't want honest reviews.
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Daniel I want my money back. The thousands of dollars you
charged me for a motion to dismiss you knew was going to fail
while procrastinating for 5 months. You didn't even provide any
evidence for the fair reporting argument so of course the arguments
failed. You are just that lazy or you did it on purpose knowing the
lawsuit wouldn't be dismissed. You absolutely knew the motion
was going to be denied. You prevented me from suing him for half
a year before the motion to dismiss was denied and therefore
ultimately getting the leverage needed to force him settle last year.
It's so disgusting how you deceived me into thinking you were
helping me and that not returning calls and taking 5 months to start
writing a complaint was normal when you were actually making
money off of me while putting in the least effort possible, not
doing your job and leaving me in an adverse position. You will be
sued for malpractice before the statute of limitations runs out.
V. Liu’s Online Harassment: Creation of Websites
64. On December 28, 2022, just as she had done to Sharma and she would go on to do
to her third attorney, Defendant Liu created a website in Szalkiewicz’ name:
www.danielszalkiewicz.com (Exhibit 11).
65. Among other things, Defendant Liu used www.danielszalkiewicz.com to promote
reviews she had posted on Google Review. For instance, the website stated:
Daniel Szalkiewicz Writes Fake Positive Reviews and Removes Negative
Reviews to Protect His Business
According to one of many reviews that Daniel Szalkiewicz removed from
Google, Daniel threatened his client, didn’t do his job for 6 months, lied
about having done work, never returned calls, didn’t gather evidence to
support a motion that he charged the client thousands of dollars for all
while insisting that he was helping his client. The client explains that
Daniel Szalkiewicz takes advantage of the fact that clients don’t know the
law and blatantly lies to enrich himself.
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66. Defendant’s website is designed to lead third parties to believe that the website is
reporting about a sizeable number of disgruntled clients when, in fact, the negative reviews and
website are solely the work of Defendant Vivian Liu.
67. Defendant Liu has changed the website several times in attempt to avoid legal
liability for her impersonation and harassive tactics. For example, after a copyright form was
submit, Defendant Liu began placing disclaimers on her website.
68. Additionally, Liu placed online carefully redacted versions of legal documents
sent to her by Plaintiffs, including the parties’ retainer agreement and the settlement agreement
Plaintiffs sent to Liu relating to her harassment.
69. As to the settlement agreement, Liu blacked out the portions of the document
which delineate the dozens of text messages Liu had sent to Szalkiewicz following termination
of their attorney-client relationship, Liu’s creation of the impersonation website in Plaintiff
Szalkiewicz’ name, and her penning of dozens of disparaging online reviews across multiple
platforms.
70. Upon information and belief, Defendant’s reason for registering and creating
www.DanielSzalkiewicz.com was to divert potential clients from DS&A’s true website and
cause them to read negative statements about Plaintiffs in order to cause harm to Plaintiffs’
business and, ultimately, for Defendant to profit from such name by selling the domain name to
Plaintiffs.
VI. Liu’s Text Message Harassment
71. On February 3, 2022, Plaintiff Szalkiewicz wrote to Liu:
Vivian, do not mistake my silence as an indication that your absurd
assertions in any way portray the whole truth. We no longer represent
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you. Unless you need assistance with your file, please stop contacting me
simply to berate me and rewrite history. It is inappropriate,
unprofessional, and it needs to stop…This has become harassment and I
would rather not have to go to the police.
72. Defendant Liu’s text messages to Szalkiewicz included the following sentiments:
• You’re an entitled piece of garbage, you won’t refund me but are demanding that I
stop texting you. Why do I have to do what you want? (September 19, 2022)
• Please die.
• Go fucking die you piece of shit.
• This is not harassment. I am not texting you or calling you constantly or dozens of
times a day. And if you file a false police report, I will include that in the ethics
complaint. You can block my number and not receive any texts from me (February 3,
2022)
• Daniel you just threatened to falsely report me for a crime, you can be charged with
filing a false police report if do. I really don’t have to do what you ask (February 3,
2022)
• If you have the balls to blow up your own life and your family’s then do it, because
you will be the one ending up being prosecuted which you would deserve for diverting
police and prosecutorial resources from real crimes to someone sending you critical
text messages. They’ll know that you’re a lawyer trying to protect himself from a
malpractice lawsuit by getting his former client charged with a crime. Remembering
you talking about having a conscience is very funny (February 3, 2022)
• I’m communicating with you because your services are a scam and you won’t return
the money I paid to you (February 3, 2022)
• Return the amount you scammed from me and I’ll stop texting you (February 11,
2022)
• You always pretend you want to help, not once did you offer to refund the thousands
of dollars I paid you despite the extremely egregious and atrocious job you did and
the adverse position your actions left me in. You always acted like you don’t care
about money so your clients would trust you (February 11, 2022)
• You actually worse than Sharma because you actually believe you’re a good person.
Sharma knows he’s a piece of shit. You made a fool out of me for a year for believing
you actually wanted to help me. Go fuck yourself you piece of garbage. (February
11, 2022)
• You acted like I should be grateful you wrote the summons with notice in July and
without you I wouldn’t have been able to sue Sharma, any other lawyer would’ve
completed the summons and complaint in April you delusional fraud. You will get
yours after gaslighting me for a year, fucking me over multiple times, costing me tens
of thousands and threatening to falsely report me to the police for harassment for
criticizing you in text messages. You claim to fight abusers when you’re actually an
abuser yourself. You are disgusting, you convinced me I was being unreasonable and
you let me keep apologizing to you when you were violating the rules of professional
conduct and being incredibly unprofessional (February 20, 2022)
16
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• The ethics complaint will include the fact that you attempt to prevent…(February 20,
2022)
• The ethics complaint will include the fact that you attempt to prevent former clients
from writing negative reviews about you by having them sign a retainer that gives you
all intellectual property rights to anything they post online about you. It’s deceptively
phrased in a retainer as mutually beneficial but in reality is only protects you and
your business. You would be violating attorney client privilege by posting stuff about
your clients or their case online (February 20, 2022)
• Why won’t you return the money you scum? You have no shame? How can you take
thousands of dollars from someone and do such a bad job, put them in such a bad
position, negatively affect their case and life and not even acknowledge it? It’s
insane how shameless you are. (March 2, 2022)
• Since you won’t return the money, that’s fine. I look forward to costing you as much
as you’ve cost me. (March 2, 2022)
• Why haven’t you called the police yet? Still waiting for you to have me arrested you
fucking trash. (March 3, 2022)
• Daniel, you charged me over 6000 dollars for the following ‘work’: you didn’t collect
evidence before it was sealed by a judge even though you had months to do it or
provide evidence to support the motion failed which you knew would. You didn’t
return calls or answer emails. You took 5 months to start writing the complaint and
kept lying about working on it. You’re such a greedy fraud. How are you not
embarrassed about charging people for this? Because you don’t think they’ll find out
or it’ll be too late when they do and you get to keep the thousands of dollars you
charged them without doing much of anything. If anyone should be arrested or
charged it should be you for fraud. (March 30, 2022)
• You said I keep bringing up history, of course it’s history to you, you received
thousands of dollars for the bare minimum work possible. Your actions and shit
quality of work are still affecting my life and case today. You don’t care about any of
your clients, you’re the same as lawyers who see clients as cash cows while
pretending to want to help them. You never apologize or take responsibility for your
inferior service and work you… (April 23, 2022)
• You are making up crimes to justify your greed and absolve yourself of blame. You
wa
Preview
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK DANIEL SZALKIEWICZ & ASSOCIATES, P.C. and DANIEL SZALKIEWICZ, Plaintiffs, VERIFIED COMPLAINT -against- Index No. : VIVIAN LIU a/k/a VIVIAN XUANFEI LIU a/k/a XUANFEI LIU, Defendant. Plaintiffs DANIEL SZALKIEWICZ & ASSOCIATES, P.C. (“DS&A”) and DANIEL SZALKIEWICZ (“Szalkiewicz” and, with DS&A, “Plaintiffs”), as and for their Verified Complaint hereby allege, upon information and belief, as follows: PRELIMINARY STATEMENT 1. Plaintiffs were hired and did act and appear as attorneys for defendant VIVIAN LIU a/k/a VIVIAN XUANFEI LIU a/k/a XUANHEI LIU (“Liu” or “Defendant”) with regard to a defamation lawsuit filed against her in Middlesex County, New Jersey by a man named Pankaj Sharma (“Sharma”). 2. The lawsuit (annexed hereto as Exhibit 1) alleged that Liu had anonymously contacted Sharma’s employer on social media and anonymously created a website in Sharma’s name with false claims that Sharma “was found guilty of harassment” and had “molested and injured a young woman after he refused to have sex with her.” 3. Plaintiffs, on behalf of Liu, successfully demanded transfer of the case to federal court and, following the transfer, Sharma amended his complaint against Liu (Exhibit 2), 1 1 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 including allegations that “Liu was attempting to blackmail him for $10,000.00 owing to the injuries he allegedly ‘caused’ her by recommending yoga stretches for her back.” 4. Liu has admitted to creating the website and contacting Sharma’s employer (Exhibit 4, ¦¦10-11). 5. Plaintiffs represented Liu in that matter for nearly one year – filing two motions to dismiss and filing a summons with notice in New York Supreme Court, among other legal work – before bringing an Order to Show Cause seeking relief from representation (annexed hereto as Exhibit 3). The supporting declaration cited that “conflicts have arisen between our firm and Ms. Liu which lead us to seek withdrawal as attorneys in this matter.” 6. Following Plaintiffs’ representation of Liu, she began to engage in a harassive course of conduct against Plaintiffs which she indicated was designed to harm Plaintiffs’ business. 7. More specifically, Liu created a website using Plaintiff Szalkiewicz’ true name which she used and continues to use to impersonate and disparage Plaintiffs. Liu also routinely creates and updates online reviews about Plaintiffs on sites like Yelp, Avvo, BBB, and Google. 8. A sampling of the harassive messages Liu sent following the conclusion of Plaintiffs’ representation highlights the maliciousness of her acts: • Please die. • Go fucking die you piece of shit. • You’re an entitled piece of garbage, you won’t refund me but are demanding that I stop texting you. Why do I have to do what you want? • You should die you money hungry scam artist. Return my money you greedy piece of garbage. • Return my money you scum. With the review, anyone who looks you up knows the kind of lawyer you are, your business will continue to suffer. • I’ll make sure this follows you for the rest of your pathetic career, you greedy disgusting pig. • If you have the balls to blow up your own life and your family’s, then do it, because you will be the one ending up being prosecuted which you would deserve for diverting 2 2 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 police and prosecutorial resources from real crimes to someone sending you critical text messages. • I hope you get hit by a car and end up unable to walk and in pain every day you piece of garbage. I hope lawyers take advantage of you so they can make a living off of you and no one help you. It’s because of you I will never get justice for what Sharma did to me. Go fucking die. • The world would be a better place without garbage people like you, the legal profession would be better place without shitty money hungry lawyers like you. Go off yourself. Die you piece of shit. • You're despicable and disgusting, the way you pretend to want to help people. In reality, you fuck your own clients over and never apologize. Where is your conscience that you kept saying you have? You are such a piece of garbage. You deserve to go out of business and lose your license. • Hey asshole! When are you going to call the police and have them put me in jail? What?No balls because you know criticizing you isn't a crime and this isn't harassment. You said my texts were absurd, how about calling the police because you don't like being criticized? Return my money asshole. • Return my money you fucking garbage person • Return the amount you scammed from me and I'll stop texting you. Copies of the nonprivileged portions of the text messages are annexed hereto as Exhibit 14. 9. Among the many themes of Defendant’s harassive text messages were statements that she would stop harassing Plaintiffs if they refunded her legal fees, including: “Return the amount you scammed from me and I’ll stop texting you” and “Since you won’t return the money, that’s fine. I look forward to costing you as much as you’ve cost me.” 10. Eager to end the harassment, Plaintiffs provided Liu with a settlement agreement whereby she agreed to stop attacking Plaintiffs in exchange for a full refund of her paid fees. 11. After receiving the settlement agreement, Liu apparently believed she could extort more money from Plaintiffs than her legal fees and indicated the money was not enough for her to discontinue her course of conduct. 12. When a higher offer did not come, she then uploaded the settlement agreement onto the website she had created – redacting the laundry list of offenses she had committed 3 3 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 against Plaintiffs – to make it appear as though the refund was based on Plaintiffs’ misconduct as opposed to their desire to be free from Defendant’s ongoing threats and harassment. 13. Plaintiffs have come to learn that Defendant Liu has undertaken nearly identical conduct against the third firm she hired to represent her in the defamation case against her, repeating her claims nearly verbatim (Mancilla & Fantone, LLP et al v. Vivian Liu, 450521/2024). 14. Because Defendant Liu has created all three known websites anonymously, only Defendant Liu knows how many other individuals and companies she is currently harassing or has previously harassed online. 15. Plaintiffs have done everything within their power to resolve this matter without involving the courts but have finally come to realize that giving into Liu’s extortionate demands is not a permanent solution and the only way to obtain relief from Liu’s hate-fueled attacks is to initiate a legal claim against her. THE PARTIES 16. Plaintiff Szalkiewicz is and was, at all times relevant to this action, a resident of the County of New York, State of New York. 17. Plaintiff DS&A is and was, at all times relevant to this action, a law firm and domestic limited liability corporation organized under the laws of the State of New York. 18. DS&A maintains and has always maintained its principal place of business in the County of New York, State of New York. 19. Defendant is and, at all times relevant to this action was, a resident of the County of Kings, State of New York. 4 4 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 STATEMENT OF FACTS PERTAINING TO ALL CAUSES OF ACTION I. Liu is Sued for Defamation, Invasion of Privacy, Retains Plaintiffs 20. On October 27, 2020, Sharma filed a Verified Complaint against Liu in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County (Exhibit 1). 21. The Verified Complaint alleged, among other things, that Liu had “created and registered an eponymous web page under the website ‘www.pankaj-sharma.com,’…wherein Liu made defamatory and false statements about Sharma” (Exhibit 1, ¦6). 22. Sharma also alleged that Liu “using…pseudonyms…made false and defamatory statements on Sharma’s employer, Con Edison’s interactive Twitter and Facebook pages alleging that Sharma ‘was found guilty of harassment’ and that he ‘molested and injured a young woman after he refused to have sex with her.’” (Exhibit 1, ¦7). 23. Shortly after the case was transferred to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Sharma filed a far more detailed Amended Complaint (Exhibit 2). 24. The Amended Complaint alleged that the two had gone on a weekend trip to the Poconos, during which time Liu got injured during a physical altercation with another vacationer, proceeded to go ziplining despite her injury and then, upon the parties’ return to the greater New York/New Jersey area, invited him for lunch where she attempted to blackmail him for $10,000 (Exhibit 2, ¦¦9-17). 25. The Amended Complaint provides that when Sharma declined to pay Liu the demanded amount, she filed charges against him for harassment in Monroe County (Exhibit 2, ¦22). The Amended Complaint continues, describing a pattern of harassment nearly identical to 5 5 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 the one undertaken by Liu against Plaintiffs, down to her creation of a website in Sharma’s name (www.pankaj-sharma.com) and multiple posts on social media furthering her claims (Exhibit 2, ¦¦30-33). Like Liu’s attacks against Plaintiffs in this case, her online harassment against Sharma was undertaken anonymously. 26. The Amended Complaint also alleged that Liu had personally contacted Sharma’s wife via LinkedIn and, after Sharma’s wife blocked Liu, that “Liu repeatedly bothered her using different pseudonymous e-mails” (Exhibit 2, ¦¦42). 27. Liu openly admitted to posting the information online in a pro se complaint she filed in a case she brought against Sharma in New York (Exhibit 5, ¦47). II. Liu Cycles Through Four Firms 28. DS&A first appeared as Liu’s attorney in the state court action on November 2020, shortly thereafter filing a motion to remove the case to federal court (Exhibit 6). 29. Once the case was moved to federal court, Plaintiffs filed two motions to dismiss, each one unique due to Sharma’s amending of the underlying complaint (Exhibit 7). 30. Plaintiffs further filed a Summons with Notice against Sharma in New York Supreme Court to preserve Liu’s claims against Sharma there (Exhibit 8). 31. Plaintiffs filed an Order to Show Cause to withdraw as counsel on October 26, 2021 (Exhibit 7, p. 5). 32. David D. Lin, Esq. was substituted as attorney on October 27, 2021 (Exhibit 7, p. 5). 33. On November 9, 2021, Robert Mario Fantone, Esq. was substituted for David D. Lin, Esq. (Exhibit 7, p. 5). 6 6 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 34. On February 24, 2022, Robert Mario Fantone, Esq. filed an Order to Show Cause to withdraw as counsel (Exhibit 7, p. 5). 35. Elena Fast, Esq. filed a notice of appearance on June 11, 2022 (Exhibit 7, p. 5). 36. A text order dated July 19, 2022 indicates Sharma and Liu were making efforts to settle the case and a letter submitted by Sharma’s counsel on August 25, 2022 indicated that the parties had entered into a confidential settlement agreement (Exhibit 9). III. Attorney-Client Relationship Ends, Liu Alludes to Future Harassment 37. Plaintiffs’ motion to withdraw as counsel was administratively terminated on October 29, 2021 as Liu retained new counsel (Exhibit 10). 38. Szalkiewicz notified Liu that DS&A no longer represented Liu and directed her to cease all contact unrelated to assistance with Liu’s legal file. 39. Just days later, on November 2, 2021, Liu’s text message threats and harassment against Plaintiff Szalkiewicz began and continued for over a year: • You're a fraud and a horrible attorney. You should stop advertising yourself as a saint who helps victims, those blatant lies on your website. You caused me so much unnecessary stress and grief because of your lack of respect for other people's time and your feeling that it's beneath you to return calls and messages. You're so disorganized, you can't get it together to help anyone except to cover your own ass. What drives you is not your desire to help clients but your ego and hero complex. This has been a disaster. (November 2, 2021) • You're not as good of a person or attorney as you think you are. As attorney you are aware of statute of limitations, how do you justify wasting half a year of a client's time after they have informed you that they want to sue someone who sexually assaulted them and still claim that you've done nothing wrong? We'll find out if that's the case. (November 8, 2021) • You're never sorry, unfortunately, you're only ever sorry that your conduct and actions are not well received. I would have appreciated if you had not wasted half a year of my time. What's inappropriate is how unprofessional your conduct was. There are no threats in the messages, it is to inform you. (November 8, 2021) 7 7 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 • Whether or not your conduct was unprofessional and unethical, it's not for us to decide at this point. (November 9, 2021) • The messages inform you why, it's not because I want to harm you but because you have harmed me and my case. It's actually a service to you to know in advance. (November 9, 2021) • You already know (November 9, 2021) • What don’t you know? (November 9, 2021) • I hired David who I didn't trust but has experience with defamation cases and who charged me $90 to just to sign a substitution form. I ended up hiring a greedy lawyer who I can't trust because of you. It's delusional and ridiculous that you insist you have only helped me. (November 9, 2021) • Yes, there will be a complaint against you. (November 11, 2021) • There will also be a complaint against you with the grievance committee. It's unfortunate that you lack ethics. (November 12, 2021) • I'm just telling you what is going to happen. (November 12, 2021) • You can write all the fake positive reviews you want, I’ll continue to expose the trash that you are in my review (September 17, 2022) • Return my money you fucking garbage person (February 11, 2022) (See Exhibit 14). 40. Liu’s November 9, 2021 messages alluded to the harassment she had planned and explained her smear campaign was being undertaken in retaliation for the perceived harm Plaintiffs had caused her. 41. Notably, Plaintiffs are not divulging the legal strategy involved in the defamation case against Liu and her decision to pursue a defamation claim against Sharma due to attorney- client privilege. However, Plaintiffs assert that Liu has waived the attorney-client privilege by placing Plaintiffs’ advice in issue online and making selective disclosure of such advice in multiple public forums online. 42. Further, Defendant Liu’s uploading of multiple documents online waives her privilege as to those documents and other documents pertaining to the subject matter of those documents. 8 8 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 43. Accordingly, Plaintiffs reserve the right to amend this Complaint upon receipt of a finding that Liu’s actions have placed Plaintiffs’ advice in issue, resulting in waiver of privilege. IV. Liu’s Online Harassment – Social Media 44. Privately, Liu’s behavior toward Plaintiffs became increasingly more aggressive as time passed and morphed from complaints about case strategy and assorted misrepresentations of truth to directions that Plaintiff Szalkiewicz kill himself. 45. Publicly, Defendant Liu’s allegations were as abundant as they were creative, spinning tiny truths into factual inaccuracies and strategically omitting details to turn herself into a victim. 46. Overall, Defendant Liu’s behavior can only be described as being specifically designed to harm Plaintiffs’ business with knowing disregard for the mistruths she needed to make to do it. i. Defendant Liu’s Google Reviews 47. Since Plaintiffs withdrew as Liu’s attorneys, Liu has written multiple false and derogatory online reviews on Google’s review platform using her true name, her initials, and pseudonyms. 48. The current version of Liu’s Google Business Review of Daniel Szalkiewicz & Associates, P.C. provides: 9 9 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 Daniel threatened to make a false report to the police and have me falsely arrested for a crime after I confronted him about him lying to me, not doing his job and charging me thousands of dollars. He tried to force me to remove the review to protect his business. Daniel pays for/writes fake positive reviews to bury and contradict negative reviews. He's writing reviews thanking himself for imaginary work he never did and then responding to the reviews as himself. I have the call logs and text messages to prove that he never called me back. I have proof of him threatening me and more. Daniel charged me many thousands of dollars to write a motion to dismiss that he knew would fail. He did not gather or provide any evidence to support the motion despite having months to do so. He encouraged me not to countersue which was against my best interest and lied to me about which state had personal jurisdiction. He procrastinated for half a year while the statutes of limitations were running out then angrily blamed me for him not completing the work. He never returned calls. Daniel is very good at pretending that he's a good guy who wants to help you. Daniel advertises himself as someone who helps victims but that's all marketing. Daniel will take your money and take advantage of the fact that you don't know the law. You will not get the treatment and respect you deserve from Daniel. He only cares about money, he does not care how his conduct adversely affects you or your case. 49. Upon information and belief, other Google Reviews were made on April 20, 2022; March 26, 2022; May 31, 2022; and August 7, 2022. These reviews were nearly identical as the ones above, alleging “Daniel threatened me after I confronted him about him lying to me, not doing his job and charging me thousands…” 50. On or about March 22, 2022, using her true name, Liu wrote a one-star review on Google’s review platform. 51. Fake names used by Liu to leave negative reviews on Google’s review platform include David W, who wrote a one-star review on May 13, 2022 and Peter Isaac, who left another one-star review on October 11, 2022 which stated, in part “Would not recommend. Terrible attitude and very poor communication skills. He is too lazy to answer emails or pick up…” 10 10 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 ii. Defendant Liu’s Yelp Reviews 52. On or about December 17, 2021, Liu wrote the following one-star review on Yelp: Daniel advertises himself as someone who helps and fights for victims but that's all marketing, that's not who Daniel is. Daniel procrastinated for half a year while the statutes of limitations were running out then angrily blamed me for him not completing the work. He repeatedly lied about working on the case. It took him half a year to begin working on the case. Daniel never returned any of my calls during the year he was my lawyer. Daniel feels that the rules of professional conduct that attorneys have to follow shouldn't apply to him. You will not get the treatment and respect you deserve from Daniel. You will be working harder on the case than he is. Daniel does not care about clients. Update: Daniel sent me messages after seeing this review, his only concern was the review and protecting his business. He did not care how his conduct adversely affected me or my case. 53. On or about September 17, 2022, Defendant “updated” her review, writing: threatened to make a false report to the police and have me falsely arrested for a crime after I confronted him about him lying to me, not doing his job and charging me thousands of dollars. He tried to force me to remove the review to protect his business. Daniel pays for/writes fake positive reviews to bury and contradict negative reviews. He's writing reviews thanking himself for imaginary work he never did and then responding to the reviews as himself. I have the call logs and text messages to prove that he never called me back. I have proof of him threatening me and more. Daniel charged me many thousands of dollars to write a motion to dismiss that he knew would fail. He did not gather or provide any evidence to support the motion despite having months to do so. He encouraged me not to countersue which was against my best interest and lied to me about which state had personal jurisdiction. He procrastinated for half a year while the statutes of limitations were running out then angrily blamed me for him not completing the work. He never returned calls. Daniel is very good at pretending that he's a good guy who wants to help you. Daniel advertises himself as someone who helps victims but that's all marketing. Daniel will take your money and take advantage of the fact that you don't know the law. You will not get the treatment and respect you deserve from 11 11 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 Daniel. He only cares about money, he does not care how his conduct adversely affects you or your case. 54. Liu has additionally created three other Yelp reviews using fake names. 55. Using the name “Carl M.” Liu wrote on September 19, 2022: This firm lawyers at this firm are very deceptive and incompetent. Daniel filed paperwork for the wrong case on the docket, he didn't even realize his mistake. I spoke with many lawyers after him, they all told me that a lot of what he told me wasn't true. His firm has hundreds of cases, he takes on any case if it will make him money. After working with Daniel, I strongly suspect that many of the positive reviews are written by Daniel himself, he is definitely not responsive. There are definitely much better lawyers. 56. Using the name “John B.” Liu wrote on September 16, 2022: Daniel Szalkiewicz is the worst lawyer and the most unprofessional person I've worked with. He is unresponsive to clients and to opposition counsel, you never know what's going on with the case. He advised me not to countersue which was terrible advice, after I found another lawyer and countersued, the other party offered money to settle. His business model is taking on as many cases as possible. Even if the cases don't go anywhere or is dismissed, he'll still make thousands off of his clients. 57. Using the name “Peter I.” Liu wrote on December 30, 2021: Would not recommend. Terrible attitude and very poor communication skills. He is too lazy to answer emails or pick up the phone. It really seems like he hates being a lawyer. Nothing gets done unless you constantly follow up with him. 58. All three accounts have zero friends and have only written one review. Recognizing the hallmarks of online harassment, Yelp suppressed three of the reviews, however they are still visible to the public with the click of a button. iii. Defendant Liu’s Avvo Reviews 59. Liu also wrote reviews on Avvo.com. Her October 21, 2022 review indicated: Daniel doesn’t know the law and is lazy. 12 12 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 Daniel advised me not to countersue, after I hired another lawyer, the opposition offered money to settle. Daniel’s legal advice was incorrect, he was wrong about a lot of things. Hiring Daniel was a mistake that cost me tens of thousands of dollars. He was very unresponsive and lazy. 60. Liu’s December 12, 2021 review on Avvo.com alleged: Regret Hiring Daniel Szalkiewicz Would give Daniel Szalkiewicz negative stars if I could, Daniel was rude and condescending for no reason. He will drop your case if you call him out on his lack of diligence and communication. Daniel is prideful and his ego demands that you to be grateful that he took your case even if he doesn’t get things done or return your calls. Choosing to hire Daniel is a very regrettable decision. 61. Defendant Liu also made disparaging comments about Plaintiffs on Avvo.com on December 8, 2021; December 10, 2021; December 11, 2021; and January 15, 2023. iv. Defendant Liu’s BBB Review 62. On or about January 1, 2022 Defendant also wrote a negative BBB review concerning Plaintiffs, which stated: Daniel advertises himself as someone who helps and fights for victims but that’s all marketing, that’s not who Daniel is. Daniel procrastinated for half a year while the statutes of limitations were running out then angrily blamed me for not completing the work. He repeatedly lied about working on the case. It took him half a year to begin working on the case. Daniel never returned any of my calls during the year he was my lawyer. Daniel feels that the rules of professional conduct that attorneys have to follow shouldn’t apply to him. You will not get the treatment and respect you deserve from Daniel. You will be working harder on the case than he is. Daniel does not care about clients. 63. On January 29, 2022, Defendant admitted to writing the review in a text message to Plaintiff Szalkeiwicz, stating: You had a complaint on better business bureau from 07/19/20 and removed your profile off the website after I posted a review. That's pathetic, you really don't want honest reviews. 13 13 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 Daniel I want my money back. The thousands of dollars you charged me for a motion to dismiss you knew was going to fail while procrastinating for 5 months. You didn't even provide any evidence for the fair reporting argument so of course the arguments failed. You are just that lazy or you did it on purpose knowing the lawsuit wouldn't be dismissed. You absolutely knew the motion was going to be denied. You prevented me from suing him for half a year before the motion to dismiss was denied and therefore ultimately getting the leverage needed to force him settle last year. It's so disgusting how you deceived me into thinking you were helping me and that not returning calls and taking 5 months to start writing a complaint was normal when you were actually making money off of me while putting in the least effort possible, not doing your job and leaving me in an adverse position. You will be sued for malpractice before the statute of limitations runs out. V. Liu’s Online Harassment: Creation of Websites 64. On December 28, 2022, just as she had done to Sharma and she would go on to do to her third attorney, Defendant Liu created a website in Szalkiewicz’ name: www.danielszalkiewicz.com (Exhibit 11). 65. Among other things, Defendant Liu used www.danielszalkiewicz.com to promote reviews she had posted on Google Review. For instance, the website stated: Daniel Szalkiewicz Writes Fake Positive Reviews and Removes Negative Reviews to Protect His Business According to one of many reviews that Daniel Szalkiewicz removed from Google, Daniel threatened his client, didn’t do his job for 6 months, lied about having done work, never returned calls, didn’t gather evidence to support a motion that he charged the client thousands of dollars for all while insisting that he was helping his client. The client explains that Daniel Szalkiewicz takes advantage of the fact that clients don’t know the law and blatantly lies to enrich himself. 14 14 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 66. Defendant’s website is designed to lead third parties to believe that the website is reporting about a sizeable number of disgruntled clients when, in fact, the negative reviews and website are solely the work of Defendant Vivian Liu. 67. Defendant Liu has changed the website several times in attempt to avoid legal liability for her impersonation and harassive tactics. For example, after a copyright form was submit, Defendant Liu began placing disclaimers on her website. 68. Additionally, Liu placed online carefully redacted versions of legal documents sent to her by Plaintiffs, including the parties’ retainer agreement and the settlement agreement Plaintiffs sent to Liu relating to her harassment. 69. As to the settlement agreement, Liu blacked out the portions of the document which delineate the dozens of text messages Liu had sent to Szalkiewicz following termination of their attorney-client relationship, Liu’s creation of the impersonation website in Plaintiff Szalkiewicz’ name, and her penning of dozens of disparaging online reviews across multiple platforms. 70. Upon information and belief, Defendant’s reason for registering and creating www.DanielSzalkiewicz.com was to divert potential clients from DS&A’s true website and cause them to read negative statements about Plaintiffs in order to cause harm to Plaintiffs’ business and, ultimately, for Defendant to profit from such name by selling the domain name to Plaintiffs. VI. Liu’s Text Message Harassment 71. On February 3, 2022, Plaintiff Szalkiewicz wrote to Liu: Vivian, do not mistake my silence as an indication that your absurd assertions in any way portray the whole truth. We no longer represent 15 15 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 you. Unless you need assistance with your file, please stop contacting me simply to berate me and rewrite history. It is inappropriate, unprofessional, and it needs to stop…This has become harassment and I would rather not have to go to the police. 72. Defendant Liu’s text messages to Szalkiewicz included the following sentiments: • You’re an entitled piece of garbage, you won’t refund me but are demanding that I stop texting you. Why do I have to do what you want? (September 19, 2022) • Please die. • Go fucking die you piece of shit. • This is not harassment. I am not texting you or calling you constantly or dozens of times a day. And if you file a false police report, I will include that in the ethics complaint. You can block my number and not receive any texts from me (February 3, 2022) • Daniel you just threatened to falsely report me for a crime, you can be charged with filing a false police report if do. I really don’t have to do what you ask (February 3, 2022) • If you have the balls to blow up your own life and your family’s then do it, because you will be the one ending up being prosecuted which you would deserve for diverting police and prosecutorial resources from real crimes to someone sending you critical text messages. They’ll know that you’re a lawyer trying to protect himself from a malpractice lawsuit by getting his former client charged with a crime. Remembering you talking about having a conscience is very funny (February 3, 2022) • I’m communicating with you because your services are a scam and you won’t return the money I paid to you (February 3, 2022) • Return the amount you scammed from me and I’ll stop texting you (February 11, 2022) • You always pretend you want to help, not once did you offer to refund the thousands of dollars I paid you despite the extremely egregious and atrocious job you did and the adverse position your actions left me in. You always acted like you don’t care about money so your clients would trust you (February 11, 2022) • You actually worse than Sharma because you actually believe you’re a good person. Sharma knows he’s a piece of shit. You made a fool out of me for a year for believing you actually wanted to help me. Go fuck yourself you piece of garbage. (February 11, 2022) • You acted like I should be grateful you wrote the summons with notice in July and without you I wouldn’t have been able to sue Sharma, any other lawyer would’ve completed the summons and complaint in April you delusional fraud. You will get yours after gaslighting me for a year, fucking me over multiple times, costing me tens of thousands and threatening to falsely report me to the police for harassment for criticizing you in text messages. You claim to fight abusers when you’re actually an abuser yourself. You are disgusting, you convinced me I was being unreasonable and you let me keep apologizing to you when you were violating the rules of professional conduct and being incredibly unprofessional (February 20, 2022) 16 16 of 25 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/18/2024 05:01 PM INDEX NO. 150713/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 4 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/18/2024 • The ethics complaint will include the fact that you attempt to prevent…(February 20, 2022) • The ethics complaint will include the fact that you attempt to prevent former clients from writing negative reviews about you by having them sign a retainer that gives you all intellectual property rights to anything they post online about you. It’s deceptively phrased in a retainer as mutually beneficial but in reality is only protects you and your business. You would be violating attorney client privilege by posting stuff about your clients or their case online (February 20, 2022) • Why won’t you return the money you scum? You have no shame? How can you take thousands of dollars from someone and do such a bad job, put them in such a bad position, negatively affect their case and life and not even acknowledge it? It’s insane how shameless you are. (March 2, 2022) • Since you won’t return the money, that’s fine. I look forward to costing you as much as you’ve cost me. (March 2, 2022) • Why haven’t you called the police yet? Still waiting for you to have me arrested you fucking trash. (March 3, 2022) • Daniel, you charged me over 6000 dollars for the following ‘work’: you didn’t collect evidence before it was sealed by a judge even though you had months to do it or provide evidence to support the motion failed which you knew would. You didn’t return calls or answer emails. You took 5 months to start writing the complaint and kept lying about working on it. You’re such a greedy fraud. How are you not embarrassed about charging people for this? Because you don’t think they’ll find out or it’ll be too late when they do and you get to keep the thousands of dollars you charged them without doing much of anything. If anyone should be arrested or charged it should be you for fraud. (March 30, 2022) • You said I keep bringing up history, of course it’s history to you, you received thousands of dollars for the bare minimum work possible. Your actions and shit quality of work are still affecting my life and case today. You don’t care about any of your clients, you’re the same as lawyers who see clients as cash cows while pretending to want to help them. You never apologize or take responsibility for your inferior service and work you… (April 23, 2022) • You are making up crimes to justify your greed and absolve yourself of blame. You wa