A former Fox Rothschild lawyer who was accused by a onetime paralegal of sexual harassment and attempted rape wants the woman's New York federal lawsuit thrown out, contending that her claims under New York state law are invalid and her claims under New Jersey law came too late.

Fox Rothschild made similar arguments in the firm's own motion to dismiss the case against it and Ian Siminoff, who worked in the firm's Morristown, New Jersey, office until hours after Stephanie Jones filed her lawsuit in December. Siminoff also asserted that the two had a consensual relationship until Jones was fired by the firm in 2017.

"Over a nearly four-year period, Mr. Siminoff and plaintiff Stephanie Jones had a consensual relationship during which they exchanged text messages, engaged in consensual physical contact, and routinely met for meals and drinks, including at the insistence of plaintiff," Paduano & Weintraub attorneys Meredith Cavallaro and Courtney Fain said in the filing.