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Neighbors Say Lewandowski Menaced Them With Bat

A couple engaged in a property dispute with former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski claim in court that their neighbor’s bullying tactics include menacing them with a baseball bat.

BRENTWOOD, N.H. (CN) - A couple engaged in a property dispute with former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski claim in court that their neighbor’s bullying tactics include menacing them with a baseball bat.

The allegations appear in new counterclaims filed by Glenn and Irene Schwartz, residents of Windham, New Hampshire, where Lewandowski also lives with his family.

Lewandowski became a household name last year after his arrest at the height of the election season when he was caught on video yanking the arm of a reporter trying to ask candidate Donald Trump a question at a campaign event.

Later that summer, Lewandowski and his Reagan's Rock LLC filed a $5 million suit against his neighbors, the Schwartzes, who bought the lot abutting his in April.

The case, underway in Rockingham Superior Court, involves an easement that Lewandowski says the Schwartzes are blocking to keep him from building a garage on his property.

Though Lewandowski’s lawsuit describes threats by the Schwartzes, the couple says they are the ones suffering severe emotional distress because of Lewandowski’s "extreme and outrageous" behavior.

"This is a small town," they say Lewandowski screamed during a May 2015 phone call, before threatening to use his political clout and connections to "shut down all building and work and make your life a nightmare with an expensive and extended lawsuit.”

The Schwartzes say that they and another neighboring family granted Reagan’s Rock an easement, “but under circumstances that have since developed that (sic) indicate the easement should otherwise be rescinded.”   

Indeed Lewandowski allegedly kept the couple in the dark initially about the fact that his plan to build what they call “a large imposing garage” was the only reason he wanted the easement inthe first place.

The Schwartzes say it was Lewandowski who broke off all negotiations with the Schwartzes about the easement designs, after screaming at them that the designs they prepared “at a significant time and cost” were not acceptable to Lewandowski’s wife.

“Don’t disrespect her wishes,” Lewandowski yelled before hanging up on the Schwartzes, according to the complaint.

The Schwartzes say they first learned of Lewandowski’s secret garage plans after talking with his builder this past May. After reviewing the plans filed with the town, the Schwartzes say they then found out that the Lewandowskis revised their plans after getting approval.

Insisting that the sole reason for the easement was to let Lewandowski access the single-family residence on the adjoining lot owned by Reagan’s Rock, the Schwartzes want the deal rescinded.

Alleging two counts of emotional distress, the couple says Lewandowski, his wife and his mother have adopted a pattern of bullying tactics.

When the Schwartzes have guests or service contractors, according to the complaint, the Lewandowskis will “aggressively approach the property line between the parties ... to make them uncomfortable, chastise them or intimidate them.”

“On more than one occasion,” the complaint also says, “Lewandowski came out of his home carrying a baseball bat while Irene Schwartz was on her property, seemingly as a threatening and intimidating gesture.”

The Schwartzes say that the complaint against them is yet another bullying tactic, filed "purely for shock value" and to cause them emotional distress.

Steven Shadallah, an attorney for the Schwartzes based in Salem, N.H., has not returned a phone call for comment.

Corey Lewandowski is represented by William Sullivan Jr. in Haverhill, Mass. Sullivan did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Categories / Politics, Regional

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