Left: Wynton Bernard; Right: Walter Bernard (provided); Inset right: Judge Philip Ignelzi (YouTube; Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania)
Two brothers, one a current and one a former professional athlete, say they are being extorted by a Pennsylvania judge who has targeted them with impunity due to his position in “a corrupt legal system.”
Walter Bernard is a Pittsburgh-area attorney who alleges that on May 3, 2023, he was wrongly arrested, forcibly removed from his residence in front of neighbors, and imprisoned for a day at the behest of Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Philip A. Ignelzi, according to the original lawsuitfiled inPennsylvaniafederal court.
Since their initial federal lawsuit – filed in August 2023 – Walter and Wynton Bernard have been in and out of the Keystone State and federal legal system, pleading their case on various fronts.
Their federal case recently proceeded to the appellate level.
“The Bernards look forward to vindicating their rights guaranteed under the laws of the United States Constitution,” the brothers told Law&Crime. “They strongly believe in their case and will continue to pursue their options afforded to them through the judicial system.”
As , the original lawsuit catalogues an increasingly punitive series of events – alleging numerous and ongoing violations of the attorney’s, and his family’s, civil and constitutional rights.
“Attorney Bernard was startled when multiple officers converged onto [his and his brother’s] residence and began continuously banging on [their] front door,” the lawsuit reads. “Attorney Bernard was threatened that if he didn’t open his front door, in a timely fashion that ‘the situation was going to get worse.’ During the unexpected visit to [Bernard’s] residence, a law enforcement officer even left a voicemail on Attorney Bernard’s personal cellphone that if Attorney Bernard didn’t come to the door, Attorney Bernard was going to jail.”
Eventually, because he feared for his family’s and his own safety due to the armed law enforcement agents, the NFL player-turned-lawyer opened the door in order to deescalate the situation, the lawsuit says.
“Attorney Bernard was subsequently arrested in front of neighbors, humiliated and placed in the back of a marked law enforcement vehicle,” the filing goes on. “Attorney Bernard was arrested without law enforcement providing a copy of a warrant and the only explanation that was given to him by law enforcement as to his arrest was: ‘the Judge just wanted to see you.’ Attorney Bernard, without having breakfast nor taking his necessary medication pursuant to his medical needs was immediately transported, jailed, and placed in a cell with approximately five (5) other individuals for a substantial part of the morning.”
Hours later, the lawsuit says, the attorney was “shackled and paraded through the courthouse hallways” and then taken before the judge.
“While still in shackles, Attorney Bernard was brought before Judge Ignelzi and was ridiculed for not opening his residential door quickly enough for the numerous deputies as they knocked outside,” the lawsuit reads. “Additionally, Judge Ignelzi scorned and blamed Attorney Bernard for almost getting himself hurt. He also scorned and reprimanded Attorney Bernard for potentially causing harm to the sheriff deputies. Judge Ignelzi confirmed that there were discussions with the Sheriff’s Department that an approval of a break in order into [the Bernard] residence almost occurred.”
While before the judge, the attorney was then given an ultimatum with two choices, according to the lawsuit. He could either agree to settle a case that was then on appeal before a Keystone State appellate court “in an amount that the opposing counsel had pre-determined with no ability to negotiate [and] without his client being present” or he could disclose sensitive financial information to opposing counsel in the case, the lawsuit says. Ignelzi allegedly gave Walter Bernard 15 minutes to make his decision – or he would be locked up again.
The underlying matter, Walter Bernard’s lawsuit explains, was a landlord-tenant dispute in which his and his brother’s escape room business was unable to host customers or pay rent during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Walter Bernard, that yearslong legal battle had reached a tentative conclusion – with judgment in favor of the landlord – but extant financial considerations, due to a financial credit awarded to the tenant, were on appeal before a higher court.
The upshot of that pending landlord-tenant matter was that Ignelzi had no jurisdiction in the matter, the lawsuit says. What’s more, Walter Bernard claims, Ignelzi knew “or should have known” that he did not have any jurisdiction in the matter because it was on appeal.
The lawsuit explains that the matter came before Ignelzi when the landlord’s counsel filed a separate motion for sanctions – which the judge then set for a hearing. Walter Bernard claims he tried, in vain, to stay that sanctions hearing pending the results of the appellate court’s ultimate decision on the final financial dispute.
The federal lawsuit also alleges that efforts by Walter Bernard, who is Black, to ascertain clarity from the lower court were ignored for weeks while the landlord’s “White male” attorney was able to have one of his motions dispensed with in less than 24 hours – adding a distinct racial dimension to the claims against the white judge.
After the sanctions hearing, Ignelzi issued a motion for discovery related to the aforementioned financial information, which Walter Bernard declined to provide, leading to the initial arrest.
“You may not like it, but it is very just,” the judge allegedly told the still-shackled Bernard at one point during the later hearing in the Allegheny County courtroom – in response to complaints from the attorney that what was happening was unjust and unconstitutional, the lawsuit says.
Eventually, after several such interactions, Walter Bernard says he agreed to provide the demanded financial information.
“Requiring an Attorney to settle a case on behalf of his client within 15 minutes while under the stress and duress of wearing handcuffs is not a judicial act normally performed by a judicial officer in civil court,” the lawsuit says.
Walter Bernard, however, did not provide Ignelzi with those financial documents, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazettereports.
In turn, Ignelzi issued a bench warrant for the lawyer’s arrest in late May 2023. Walter Bernard was taken into custody again on Aug. 9, 2023 – during a hearing to determine the final judgment amount in his and his brother’s underlying landlord-tenant controversy.
Chained up again, Walter Bernard told the paper, he finally agreed to settle the lawsuit under the terms the opposing counsel set.
“I wrote a personal check for $80,000 while wearing the red jumpsuit and both my hands and feet shackled,” Walter Bernard told the Post-Gazette. “I felt it was going to keep getting worse. My family has been living in fear since May and my concern is safety.”
The filing alleges ten separate causes of action – including violations of the First, Fourth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as severalSection 1983 civil rights claims, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit seeks damages, attorney’s fees, and three separate court orders that would prohibit the judge from repeating any of the alleged behavior taken against the lawyer.
In late April, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled on a motion for summary judgment in Ignelzi’s favor. In the ruling, U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman IV cited, and referred to in depth, the parallel state-level case the Bernards brought in the matter – which was also dismissed.
“[D]id the Judicial Defendants lack all jurisdiction when they engaged in the conduct forming the basis of Plaintiffs’ claims? They clearly did not,” the court ruled. “Rather, the state court record shows that, notwithstanding the appeals, the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas and the Judicial Defendants, retained jurisdiction over the proceedings relating to discovery in aid of execution and Plaintiffs’ contemptuous conduct therein.”
Additionally, the court found, even in the absence of the jurisdictional complaint, Ignelzi cannot be sued due to judicial immunity.
On May 22, the Bernards re-filed their state court case for reconsideration, telling Law&Crime they want a review of the opinion because “it contradicts the record and case law.” That same day, the brothers filed notice of appeal for their federal case with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Wynton Bernard is currently a center fielder for the Chicago White Sox on a minor league contract. He previously played in the major leagues for the Colorado Rockies. Walter Bernard played four seasons as a defensive back in the National Football League for various teams.
The Bernards come from a long line of civil and human rights advocates.
Their great-great maternal grandfather, Robert T. Hickman, was a former slave who, in 1863, led 75 slaves to freedom in Saint Paul, Minnesota where he founded the first black church there, the Pilgrim Baptist Church – which conducts services to this day and was recently added to the U.S. National Registry of Historical Sites as part of the Underground Railroad. The Bernards’ father, the late Walter Bernard, who served for 20 years in the U.S. Navy as an officer, took part in the Civil Rights movement.
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