Brian Lines, President of Lines Overseas Management, yesterday denied he attacked a former stockbroker during a heated argument over nearly $250,000 she allegedly owed the company.

Mr. Lines took the stand on the second day of a Supreme Court trial where Lines Overseas Management Ltd is suing a former employee, Carol Green, for over $100,000 plus interest.

In a counter-claim Ms Green is suing for damages for breach of contract, wrongful withdrawal of money from her account and constructive dismissal. She has also alleged Mr. Lines assaulted her during the argument.

The court heard Ms Green had worked for LOM between April 1995 and December 1997, had two margin accounts with LOM which at one point went into debt by as much as $386,000.

Mr. Lines claimed yesterday at the time of the altercation, she owed nearly $250,000 in her margin accounts - a type of account where the client buys stocks partly from his or her own cash and partly from the brokerage firm and the stocks are used as collateral on the loan.

When Ms Green left the company, the stocks were sold and a debt of $110,643.26 remained, according to the LOM legal team led by Juliana Jack.

Mr. Lines denied anything more than a verbal altercation with Ms Green in January 1997, before her alleged resignation from LOM.

He said she was "screaming" and in a "full rage" while he remained calm and that there was no physical contact apart from her pushing him out of the way.

He said: "I called Carol into an office because I didn't want to embarrass her and I was basically saying sell your securities or come up with the money for your account. And we were in a small room and she went into a full rage and started screaming and shaking and pushed me out of the way. That was basically it, and she left after that." He added: "I did tell her to leave."

He said she went back to her seat and sat down, and about five minutes later I called her by telephone across the office - about 30 feet - and said: "Carol, just leave."

Ms Jack asked Mr. Lines: "Apart from your account that she went `ballistic' was there anything else?" He said: "She was in a full rage and her hands were flailing around and she wasn't making any sense, sensible words were not coming out at the time."

Under cross examination from Ms Green's lawyer, Mark Diel, Mr. Lines was asked whether there had been any discussion on the main trading floor of the offices. Mr. Diel suggested there was an argument on the trading floor, but Mr. Lines denied this. The pair ended up in the office.

Mr. Diel said: "You were shouting and gesticulating." Mr. Lines said: "No".

Mr. Diel said: "She went to try and get out, but you were barring the door." Mr Lines: "No, I was not barring the door."

Mr. Diel said: "Were you leaning against it?" Mr. Lines replied, "No, but it was a small office."

Mr. Diel said: "She was trying to leave, but you were preventing her." Mr. Lines: "That is incorrect".

Mr. Diel said: "During this struggle you made body contact with her." Mr. Lines: "I may have made body contact with her as she pushed me out of the way."

Mr. Diel asked him if he said to Ms Green: "I am going to do what I want with your account". Mr. Lines replied: "That is incorrect".

Earlier David Sidders, vice president and manager of trading at LOM, said he had a direct view of the fight, which he claimed started on the trading floor, and them moved to the small office.

He said he could see into the glass wall of the office.

"Mrs. Green took a seat and Mr. Lines closed the door behind him and leaned back on the door and I continued to hear some noises and that would suggest a disagreement or argument through the door. At some point Mrs. Green got up to attempt to leave the room, and of course Mr. Lines was still leaning on the door - it is quite a small office - and when she pulled open the door in haste she pulled Mr. Lines towards her, not on her, but towards her, and then I observed her step around him and she left the office."

He added there was no physical contact.

Mr. Lines' brother, Scott Lines, Managing Director of LOM, said he believed Ms Green had "substantial assets" and was "good for the money" owed to the company.

And the court heard Ms Green was also a close personal friend of Scott Lines when she was hired and during her three years of working for the company.

Ms Green, described as a professional with 20 years' of brokerage experience who was a trusted employee by Mr. Lines (Scott).

And Mr. Lines (Scott) said that Ms Green was going through a divorce at the time of her resignation, promised always to pay off her debts and he claimed the company had been kind to her.

Mr. Lines said she had been given the accounts on trust: "Because Carol was a broker in the firm, she was an employee, she was a professional, just as today in the entire market, your word is your bond."

He added: "I trusted her. She was a friend. She was a close friend of both myself and my wife and I knew her family very well. I had been to her house many times and to her house in Wales and she had been to my home many times."