The longtime partner of Yankees legend and YES Network commentator David Cone has been ordered to pay the legal costs of a neighbor who accused him of setting fire to their home for fame.
Taja Abitbol was at the center of a bitter lawsuit after her neighbor, David Rice, claimed he tried to set fire to her Manhattan apartment in 2019 to get her a job on “The Real Housewives of New York.”
Abitbol denied the allegations and fired back by suing Rice for defamation.
But in a July 9 ruling, a New York County Supreme Court judge dismissed the lawsuit and ordered Abitbol, 52, to pay all of Rice’s legal costs.
“There is ample evidence that Plaintiffs sought to gain publicity from the fires by discussing them on talk shows and promoting them on Instagram,” the ruling, seen by The Washington Post, said.
“Just three months prior to the fire, Plaintiff had been profiled in a New York Page Six article as someone who was ‘obsessed’ with appearing on ‘Real Housewives of New York’ and had failed four auditions.”
Abitbol previously told The Washington Post that on the morning of Nov. 9, 2019, she lit a sage candle for morning meditation in the dining room of the four-bedroom apartment she shares with Cohn in Lincoln Square.
Abitbol explained that as she said the prayer, candles lit and the building’s sprinklers went off.
Abitbol said the NYPD and NYFDC were “immediately” called to the incident, which was later ruled an accident, and a fire department report backed that up.
The following day, Abitbol appeared on “The Tamron Hall Show” to talk about the incident.
Rice, who lives downstairs, alleged in her original lawsuit that Abitbol and Cohn “knowingly, knowingly, knowingly and recklessly started the fire … in order to obtain talking points for Abitbol on ‘The Tamron Hall Show’ and/or to qualify for Abitbol’s potential co-star spot on ‘Real Housewives of New York.'” [City]’ Television shows, etc.
“Mr. Abitbol’s desire for fame and notoriety is well known,” Rice’s ongoing lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit also claims the sprinklers have forced Rice to make “complete renovations” to his 12th-floor apartment, and seeks at least $320,000 in damages.
Abitbol, who is friends with several “Real Housewives” stars, denied setting the fire for fame, adding, “This has nothing to do with anything else. It was a faulty candle. It was a total accident.”
She sued Rice, an Army veteran, for defamation over statements he made on his “I Love The Upper West Side” blog before filing the lawsuit, and later to the FDNY and the Washington Post, in which he said the fire was under investigation when in fact it was not.
Now that the judge has dismissed the lawsuit, Abitbol is in talks with Miami, where he runs a wellness center. Taja DripCohn, who lives in New York City, and his wife, along with their 12-year-old son, Sammy, appealed the decision.
“This sentence is being appealed, and we are confident that the trial court will overturn the lower court’s erroneous decision,” her lawyer, Eric Lerner, told The Washington Post in a statement, adding that Abitbol had passed a polygraph test submitted to the court.
Abitbol is still facing litigation for failing to install sprinkler controls in rental buildings, and a lawsuit against the candle manufacturer is also ongoing, The Post has heard.
