Steve Lieberman

slieberm@lohud.com

A Ramapo yeshiva that had accused several villages of anti-Hasidic bias never provided any evidence to support its accusations, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in dismissing its civil rights lawsuit.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upheld a decision by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas last March to throw out the lawsuit filed by Modos Chofetz Chaim.

The latest decision will likely end the yeshiva's long legal fight against Pomona, Chestnut Ridge, Wesley Hills and Montebello and their officials, according to attorney Greg Saracino, representing Pomona.

"I don't expect the yeshiva to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, as there are no novel constitutional issues at play," Saracino said Wednesday. "It's a clean ruling with no dissent. Simply, the plaintiffs failed to come forward with any evidence of discrimination from the villages. The case was entirely based on innuendo and opinion."

The yeshiva accused the communities of incorporating as villages to curtail the expansion of Hasidic neighborhoods through restrictive zoning. It also claimed the villages tried to hide behind environmental laws in an attempt to block the construction of housing and a study center on Grandview Avenue — a use allowed under the town of Ramapo's adult student housing zone.

Rabbi Aryeh Zaks, his family and other Chofetz Chaim officials claimed in their lawsuit that the villages conspired to deprive the yeshiva of its civil, religious and equal protection clause rights under the U.S. Constitution and the Fair Housing Act.

Chofetz Chaim sought $100 million in damages.

The yeshiva and Ramapo have also battled the same villages in state court since 2004 over accusations of zoning and fire violations at the development.

In the federal case, the appeals court upheld Karas' 76-page decision, in which he ruled the rabbis "have offered nothing more than conclusory, unsubstantiated assertions" of civil rights violations.

Yeshiva officials could not be reached for comment.

Chofetz Chaim rabbis bought 4.7 acres on Grandview Avenue in 1997, after the federal government declared the former Nike military property surplus. Chofetz Chaim built a study center, 32 two-bedroom units and 28 four-bedroom units, supposedly for students and their families.

A federal lawsuit settlement against New Hempstead for blocking development put the land back under Ramapo's jurisdiction.

The Zaks family, which is politically active in Ramapo and some villages, claims kinship through marriage with the Chofetz Chaim, an influential Russian rabbi and ethicist (born Israel Meir Kagan) who died in 1933.

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