Lenny Dykstra faces suit without lawyer

NEW YORK, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Former Mets and Phillies batting star Lenny Dykstra appears to be facing a lawsuit in New York without legal assistance.

Deborah Freedman, a U.S. magistrate in Manhattan, told Dykstra and his wife, Terry, Oct. 10 she would assume the couple are representing themselves if they did not name new lawyers by last Friday, the New York Post reported. The Post said no filings had been made.

The accounting firm DDK & Co. sued the couple for $587,000. The lawsuit involves the preparation of the Dykstras tax returns for 2007.

The couple had been represented by lawyers from Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis. But they resigned from the case in September, saying Dykstra had failed to pay legal fees.

Dykstra, nicknamed "Nails," played with the Mets in the late 1980s and was the leadoff hitter in 1986, when the team won the World Series. He was traded to the Phillies in 1990 and helped the team get into the World Series in 1993.