Leonard Taylor, a 32-year-old former bodyguard for the erstwhile Marky Mark, has filed a $2 million civil suit against the actor, accusing the Planet of the Apes star of roughing him up outside a New York restaurant.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court, claims Wahlberg, 30, went ape on Taylor, punching the bodyguard in the face and biting him on the arm. It's not clear what spurred the alleged brawl, but it was said to have occurred outside the Serafina restaurant in lower Manhattan around 4 a.m. on November 16.
According to court papers, the actor apparently wasn't the one in need of protection. "[Wahlberg] maliciously and intentionally, and without just cause or provocation assaulted, beat and bit" Taylor, inflicting on him "severe, painful personal injuries [which] prevented him from attending to his usual duties and occupations," the suit reads.
Taylor is seeking $1 million in damages to pay for those hefty hospital bills and another $1 million in punitive damages against the movie star for his "willful" and "malicious act."
Taylor's attorney, Robert Berkowitz, did not return phone calls. No criminal charges were filed and police and prosecutors have no information about the alleged run-in.
Either way, maybe Wahlberg should think twice about hiring extra security. The Boston native once had a reputation in his youth for getting into fisticuffs when he wasn't watching older brother Donnie dance his way up the charts in New Kids on the Block. But these days, he seems more focused on a budding movie career.
Wahlberg gained critical notices in Paul Thomas Anderson's porn satire Boogie Nights and David O. Russell's 1999 film Three Kings, before starring in two successive summer blockbusters, The Perfect Storm and director Tim Burton's update of The Planet of the Apes.
Wahlberg's reps declined to comment on the suit.