Natara Matias claims she suffered neck and back injuries which prevented her from working 'for the better part of two years' after the filmmaker's dog bit into her right leg.
- June 2, 2018
AceShowbiz - Filmmaker Martin Scorsese is facing legal action from a woman who was allegedly attacked by his late dog.
Nurse Natara Matias claims she had been working at the Scorsese family home in New York City in September, 2015, when a white terrier named Desmond reportedly bit into her right leg, unprovoked.
She fell as she tried to escape the animal's clutches, and suffered neck and back injuries which prevented her from working "for the better part of two years", her lawyer Greg Martello tells the New York Daily News.
Martello insists the The Wolf of Wall Street director and his wife Helen were aware of the dog's bad behaviour after receiving "prior complaints" about the pet, which was reportedly known to be "wild, unruly, vicious and possessed of a ferocious nature and disposition with a propensity to attack other dogs and human beings," according to his client's lawsuit.
The papers, filed in Bronx Supreme Court, go on to accuse the Scorseses of being "negligent, careless and reckless and grossly negligent in the ownership, operation, management, maintenance, supervision, use and control of the aforesaid dog," which died in July, 2016.
However, the Scorseses have since hit back, insisting they are not responsible for the alleged attack.
In their lawsuit response, the couple's lawyer declares any injuries Matias may have sustained "were caused in whole or in part, or were contributed to by the culpable conduct and/or want of care and/or assumption of the risk on the part of the plaintiff and without any negligence or want of care on the part of the defendants, Helen Scorsese and Martin Scorsese".
