Haart v. Scaglia

The following e-filed documents, listed by NYSCEF document number (Motion 001) 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 77, 78 were read on this motion to/for DISMISSAL. DECISION + ORDER ON MOTION; Reference to Special Referee In this defamation action brought by Plaintiff Julia Haart, defendants Silvio Scaglia (Scaglia) and Lanny J. Davis (Davis) move, pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (7) and (g) and Civil Rights Law §76-a, to dismiss the complaint with prejudice and for an award, pursuant to Civil Rights Law §70-a, of their costs and attorneys’ fees. Plaintiff Julia Haart opposes the motion. Background The following facts are taken from the complaint unless otherwise indicated. Plaintiff Haart and Defendant Scaglia are currently married, and litigating their divorce before the undersigned, in another action, in this Court. As stated in her complaint in this action, Haart is a fashion designer and author and appears in “My Unorthodox Life,” a reality television series airing on Netflix that documents her life after she left the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Monsey, New York (NYSCEF Doc No. 2, complaint

2, 9 and 17). Haart served as the Creative Director of La Perla, a retail apparel company, from 2016 to 2018, and as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Creative Officer of Elite World Group, LLC (EWG), a talent/media company, from March 2019 until she was terminated in February 2022 (id.,