Alpine Country Club questions 'authenticity' of $30K purse; waiter no longer being sued

Keldy Ortiz | NorthJersey

Show Caption Hide Caption Aerial video of Alpine Country Club Aerial video of Alpine Country Club.

A Bergen country club being sued for $30,000 in damages after a waiter allegedly spilled wine on an Alpine woman’s expensive purse is questioning whether it's real, according to court documents.

The lawyer for Alpine Country Club, Kenneth Merber, also in court documents said the club will not be seeking to sue the waiter. The club initially filed a cross-claim action, in which one defendant sues another in the same proceeding.

Maryana Beyder, a country club member from Alpine, filed a lawsuit in October against the club saying it should be held responsible for irreversibly damaging her Hermès Kelly bag, which was rare and has since been discontinued.

Hermès handbags are sometimes priced in the tens of thousands of dollars.

“The pleadings raise issues regarding the property damage Plaintiff claims she suffered, the authenticity of the handbag and its value. Plaintiff has not provided any receipt pertaining to the purchase of the subject handbag,” Merber said in a statement. “Alpine Country Club is not making any claim against and is not seeking any damages from any of its employees, including the waiter who allegedly caused damage to Plaintiff’s handbag, pertaining to the subject incident.”

More: Alpine Country Club responds to suit over wine spilled on $30K purse

Opinion: We should be embarrassed by the lawsuit over the $30K handbag at Alpine Country Club

On Sept. 7, 2018, Beyder was having a meal at the Demarest country club when a waiter spilled red wine on her pink Hermès bag, according to court documents. For nearly a year, said Alexandra Errico, Beyder’s attorney, she attempted to resolve the issue with the country club. The club stopped being responsive, she said, and even the insurance company was dismissive, not understanding why the bag was priced so high. Beyder's handbag was a birthday gift from her husband.

In a response to the country club's claims, Errico said Tuesday that she plans to file a defamation and libel lawsuit. Errico also said her client will not be suing the server.

"We have two authentication reports that it is real," Errico said about the purse. "For them to say that, it’s in bad faith. They are lying."

A Hermès handbag sold at an auction in Hong Kong for $377,000 in 2017, setting the world record for most expensive bag.

The Himalaya Birkin handbag sold at the auction wasn't just any handbag. It was a variation of a handbag conceived by Hermès founder Jean-Louis Dumas and actress/singer Jane Birkin on a flight from Paris to London.

Keldy Ortiz is a breaking news reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all the major news happening in North Jersey, subscribe here. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.

Email: ortizk@northjersey.com Twitter: @KeldyOrtiz