PITTSBURGH — An Allegheny County judge who ordered that a Black Pittsburgh lawyer be arrested and brought to court in shackles is asserting that he's immune to a federal lawsuit filed against him.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Philip A. Ignelzi is being sued by lawyer Walter Bernard, who alleges multiple violations of his civil rights.

Judge Ignelzi said in court documents filed Dec. 12 that Bernard should have known he would be arrested and jailed if he failed to comply with the court's April 27 order to produce financial documents related to a landlord-tenant dispute. The order specifically stated that arrest was the consequence of noncompliance.

“Despite this clear warning, the discovery deadline came and went with no response,” the judge said. “After evading law enforcement for several months, Walter Bernard was eventually apprehended on Aug. 9, 2023 and a contempt hearing was scheduled for Aug. 21, 2023.”

Judge Ignelzi did not respond to a request for comment.

Bernard said in court filings that he was forced to write a personal check for $80,000 while incarcerated in the Allegheny County Jail for 12 days without a hearing. Even after he wrote the check, they kept him behind bars for another week — 20 days total — “until Judge Ignelzi received proof of his check being cleared as a condition of his freedom,” Bernard's court filing said.

Judge Ignelzi wants the federal court to grant him immunity from Bernard’s lawsuit based on the protection he is entitled to while acting in his official capacity as a judge.

“A suit against a state official in his official capacity is deemed a suit against the state,” Judge Ignelzi argued in his response.

The arrest and incarceration of Bernard stem from a civil court case concerning a commercial lease dispute which involves Bernard and his brother, Wynton Bernard, a professional baseball outfielder in the Colorado Rockies Organization.

Walter Bernard is also a former NFL defensive back for the San Diego Chargers, the Indianapolis Colts and the Seattle Seahawks football teams. Both brothers share a home and were co-owners of Escape Room Sports at 9795 Perry Highway in McCandless Township.

Court records show the Bernard brothers entered a six-year lease agreement in July 2017 with the landlord to pay $4,000 a month rent for three years and then $4,500 a month for the following three years.

When COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, the business was forced to shut down. The Bernard brothers quit making rent payments and exercised a clause in the lease which they claim abated the rent if they were unable to operate for reasons that were not due to their own negligence.

The landlord was seeking a judgment of $100,882 for the full lease amount. The Bernard brothers, however, asked that the judgment amount be reduced since a replacement tenant had moved in.

Court documents show the Bernards had repeatedly objected to handing over documents, which include their tax returns and bank statements, to determine the judgment amount they were willing to pay.

Walter Bernard said the reason for their refusal was because they had appealed the case to another court and it was no longer in Judge Ignelzi's jurisdiction.

Then, on the morning of May 3, while Walter Bernard was at home getting dressed, multiple sheriff's deputies converged on his house and began banging on the front door. Wynton Bernard was traveling for a baseball game at the time.

“Attorney Bernard was threatened by an officer of the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office that if he didn’t open his front door in a timely fashion, 'the situation was going to get worse,'” court records said. “Attorney Bernard was subsequently arrested in front of neighbors, humiliated and placed in the back of a marked law enforcement vehicle.

“Attorney Bernard was subsequently shackled and paraded through the courthouse hallways.”

In his response to the federal lawsuit, Judge Ignelzi said the landlord served the Bernards with written discovery requests, which the Bernards “studiously ignored.”

“The court's April 27, 2023 order specifically stated that failure to comply with this order will result in both Walter Bernard and Wynton Bernard being held in contempt and being taken into custody by the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office and lodged at the Allegheny County Jail until such time as they purge themselves of contempt,” Judge Ignelzi said in his response. “When viewed in the light of the public record, it is clear that Walter Bernard's incarceration was the result of his own vexatious and dilatory behavior.”