Lawyers sue former congressional candidate Nothstein
Action seeks $400K for work on abandoned lawsuits against The Morning Call, others
The attorneys who represented Olympic gold medal cyclist Marty Nothstein in lawsuits against The Morning Call and other parties are suing him, seeking to recover more than $422,000 they say he owes for their services.
Bochetto & Lentz of Philadelphia filed suit June 6 in Lehigh County Court, saying Nothstein, a former Lehigh County commissioner and Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, has ignored demands to pay.
The firm says it spent 1,020 hours on the cases over two years — including taking depositions from 23 witnesses and hiring two expert witnesses — only to learn Nothstein had misrepresented unspecified “material facts” in the case and made it impossible for them to continue as his lawyers.
“The truth — as recently admitted by Nothstein — was material to Nothstein’s litigation prospects and substantially destructive to his claims,” the suit says.
Nothstein could not immediately be reached for comment.
Nothstein sued The Morning Call, the nonprofit Velodrome Fund and the organization’s chairperson, Andrew Ralston, in 2018 after the newspaper published a report that Nothstein was suspended without pay from his position as director of the Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Trexlertown after the board was notified of an investigation of a sexual misconduct claim against him.
Nothstein, a candidate for the Lehigh Valley’s congressional seat at that time, claimed the report was an invasion of privacy and placed him in a false light.
Bochetto & Lentz requested to withdraw as Nothstein’s counsel in October, citing “irreconcilable differences” with their client. Nothstein dropped the lawsuit the next day. The law firm says Nothstein is contractually obligated to pay for its services.
Nothstein also filed and lost a lawsuit against USA Cycling, the sanctioning body for amateur cycling in the United States, alleging the organization damaged his reputation and invaded his privacy by placing him on a list of cyclists suspended for misconduct and by
divulging the existence of the allegation to a Morning Call reporter.
A federal judge ruled USA Cycling is shielded from liability under a federal law designed to encourage the reporting of allegations of abuse in amateur sports. Nothstein appealed the decision but later dropped the case.
In December, Nothstein was accused of stalking a woman with whom he had a six-year affair and her new boyfriend after the woman ended their relationship in 2020.
A criminal complaint alleges Nothstein engaged in a nearly yearlong campaign of harassment by driving past their homes, damaging their cars, sending anonymous letters with vulgar sexual references and attempting to smear the boyfriend with false accusations of sexual misconduct.
Nothstein waived his preliminary hearing last week, meaning the case was sent to Lehigh County Court for trial.