Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
N.Y. judge scoffs at nasty divorce
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 30, 2007
NEW YORK - Feuding spouses who built a wall through their three-story row house because neither would give it up cannot divorce, a jury ruled. Jurors on Wednesday shot down the "cruel and inhuman treatment" Chana Taub cites as grounds for divorcing Simon Taub after more than 20 years of marriage and four children. "I'm dismissing the whole case. That's it," Justice Carolyn Demarest said. To revive the case, Chana Taub would have to file it again, on new grounds. "I was in total shock," she said. "It's unbelievable." The husband's lawyer, Abe Konstam, said a trial wouldn't have been necessary if New York changed its divorce laws. The state doesn't allow the speedy dissolution of marriage without proof that one spouse is at fault. A judge ordered the couple to put up the wall because neither wanted to move out. She got the top floor, he got the first floor. The second floor is barricaded, he gets the dining room and she the kitchen. The case has been dubbed Brooklyn's War of the Roses, after the 1989 movie about a feuding couple. Chana says that for two decades she served Simon like a virtual slave, putting up with physical and mental abuse. Simon denies ever laying a hand on his wife and says he gave her a luxurious lifestyle. He says she wants the divorce to squeeze what money he has left.
[Last modified March 30, 2007, 01:35:00]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
