Rabbi Sex Suit Barred
A divided New York appeals court has ruled a state statute barring a cause of action for seduction prohibits a woman’s claims against a rabbi who allegedly counseled her to have sex with him.
The woman, who had told her rabbi of problems finding a husband, claimed Rabbi Mordecai Tendler counseled her that sex with him was “her only hope,” the New York Law Journal reports. Her suit claimed the rabbi told her that that after sexual relations her “life will open up, and men will come to her.” She asserts that as a result of the counseling, she and Tendler had sexual relations for five years.
The court ruled in a 3-2 decision that the woman’s claims for breach of fiduciary duty and intentional infliction of emotional distress were “nothing more than thinly veiled claims of seduction” that were prohibited by law.
The woman’s lawyer said she would appeal.
