DAREH GREGORIAN
May 8, 2008
You can't enforce a contract if it's not kosher.
A state appeals court tossed out a lawsuit against a prominent Park Avenue rabbi who was sued by his former mistress for reneging on his written agreement to pay her at least $125,000 if their relationship ended.
The panel said the contract couldn't be enforced - because it "facilitated adultery."
Rabbi Joel Goor, 75, was still married when he signed the bizarre cohabitation contract with Janet Pizzo, 50, who said the two had a seven-year affair.
The trysts included recurring romps in his office in the Metropolitan Synagogue that occurred while Goor was keeping his wife in the dark, Pizzo said in legal papers and interviews.
But the relationship imploded in 2006, when Pizzo began to suspect Goor was seeing yet another woman - and the jilted lover sued for $15 million.
The additional millions of dollars she sought included a claim for emotional distress.
The suit charged that Goor, who has been married twice, didn't hold up his end of the cohabitation contract that he made Pizzo sign in 2005. The agreement would have given her half of his home in The Bronx if she got liposuction, became better educated and continued their torrid trysts.
The deal required Pizzo to "join Joel in his cultural experiences without complaining" and "attempt with Joel's delicate guidance to speak English properly" as part of her cultural education, the suit said.
"The Parties [agree] to provide each other with all the care, companionship [both platonic and sexual], fidelity and friendship expected in a relationship tantamount to marriage and consistent with their current relationship," the document said.
Pizzo claimed the rabbi once locked her out of their bedroom, unplugged the refrigerator, took the cushions off her couch and threatened to parade naked in front of her 17-year-old daughter.
Pizzo's lawyer, Rosemarie Arnold, said her client has been cheated and plans further legal action. "She feels she needs to fight for justice," Arnold said.
Pizzo couldn't be reached for comment.
