For more than ten years, Mosdos Chofetz Chaim has pursued a policy of filing what many claim are largely frivolous lawsuits and related legal actions against the villages of Pomona, Chestnut Ridge, Wesley Hills, and Montebello, all located in Ramapo, New York. Friday, it its biggest lawsuit to date was thrown out of court – for the second time.
Above: Mosdos Chofetz Chaim
Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim's $100 Million Lawsuit Against Ramapo, New York Villages Thrown Out Of Court
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
For more than ten years, Mosdos Chofetz Chaim has pursued a policy of filing what many claim are largely frivolous lawsuits and related legal actions against the villages of Pomona, Chestnut Ridge, Wesley Hills, and Montebello, all located in Ramapo, New York. Friday, it its biggest lawsuit to date was thrown out of court – for the second time.
Chofetz Chaim’s $100 million federal lawsuit against the villages – a lawsuit asserting those villages discriminated against the haredi yeshiva because zoning decisions they made against it were based on anti-hasidic bias – was tossed out of court Friday, the Journal News reported, after Federal District Court Judge Kenneth M. Karas ruled Chofetz Chaim failed to prove its allegations in any way.
Chofetz Chaim officials "have offered nothing more than conclusory, unsubstantiated assertions in support" of their claim of civil rights violations on the part of the villages. He called Chofetz Chaim’s allegations “threadbare” and ruled that they are not enough to prevent the lawsuit against the villages from being thrown out of court.
But Karas also noted the longstanding distrust between the haredi community and other locals that helped fuel the lawsuit to begin with.
"The allegations [made by Chofetz Chaim against the villages], while often supported only by inference, are grounded in the context of fifty plus years of distrust, hostility, and even bigotry within the communities at issue here. Having lived and worked with residents and officials from the villages during these many years, plaintiffs firmly believe that they have been targeted because of their religious beliefs, even if they cannot point to discriminatory statements by defendants,” Karas wrote.
Even so, while the decision could be appealed, Karas’ ruling is unlikely to be overturned.
Chofetz Chaim accused non-haredi locals of incorporating as villages in an attempt to block the expansion of hasidic neighborhoods through restrictive zoning only incorporated villages could employ. The lawsuit also claimed the villages used environmental laws as a beard to oppose Ramapo’s adult student housing zone and then singled out Chofetz Chaim’s adult student housing and yeshiva.
Chofetz Chaim claimed the villages conspired to deprive the yeshiva of its civil, religious and equal protection clause rights under the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Fair Housing Act, the Journal News reported.
Beginning in 2004, Chofetz Chaim and Ramapo also fought with those villages in state court over the villages’ (and local firefighters’) claims of zoning and fire violations at Chofetz Chaim. Ramapo is notoriously lax in its code enforcement, so much so that state and federal authorities have taken note.
In 2010, Karas also dismissed Chofetz Chaim’s first federal lawsuit against the villages, but allowed Chofetz Chaim to refile it. It was that second filing that was dismissed Friday.
Chofetz Chaim’s development has 32 two-bedroom units and 28 four-bedroom units.
A state judge reportedly previously upheld Ramapo's adult student housing zone after the villages brought a state lawsuit against Ramapo, arguing Chofetz Chaim’s development did not comply with New York State’s Environmental Quality Review Act.
"The 100 million dollar case was designed to bankrupt the villages. I'm glad it's history," Pamona's attorney Greg Saracino reportedly said.
Judge Kenneth M. Karas' 76-Page Decision as a PDF file: