Attorney John Nonnenmacher sent a colleague to tell Judge Allyne Ross that his mother had died suddenly, the New York Post reports.

Judge Ross was at the time presiding over a police brutality lawsuit brought by Mr Nonnenmacher, which was at the jury selection stage.

When Judge Ross found that Nonnenmacher had lied about his mother’s death, she demanded the attorney be made to explain.

However, Nonnenmacher was nowhere to be found - and claimed to have been hospitalised with an unspecified ailment.

Judge Ross phoned the hospital in question and was further enraged when they said Mr Nonnenmacher was not a patient there.

Patience exhausted, she told Mr Nonnenmacher at his latest hearing: “I have been trying to reach you through every possible means.

“You keep moving things off, moving things off, moving things off. I cannot have these motions moved off anymore.”

Mr Nonnenmacher’s client has since dropped her lawsuit, but penalties are now being sought against the lawyer.