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NY Appellate Court Rejects Claim Against State By Kosher Food Seller

By Howard M. Friedman

Commack Self-service Kosher Meats, Inc. v Rudgers, (NY App. Div., Nov. 6, 2008), is a lawsuit brought by a kosher food business that was cited for violating the New York's law (later held unconstitutional) which prohibited the sale of food as kosher if it was not prepared in accordance with Orthodox Jewish requirements. Plaintiff Commack argued that its reputation and business were damaged by the state when it discontinued a court case in which plaintiff had been charged with violating the kosher law. Commack says this caused it to lose the opportunity to defend itself and be exonerated. The court held, however, that "Commack's failure to appeal from or otherwise challenge District Court's order permitting the withdrawal of the state's action is fatal to their claim." The court said that even if that were not the case, Commack would not succeed on the merits since there was nothing in the record but speculation to support the charge that authorities acted with intentional malice in enforcing then-valid laws. [Thanks to J.J. Landa for the lead.]

Full post as published by Religion Clause on November 07, 2008 (boomark / email).