Dov Hertz settles accusation by babysitter of sexual assault decades ago

Developer Dov Hertz has settled a lawsuit by a Brooklyn woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her more than four decades ago, when she was a teenager babysitting for his family.

Her lawsuit was the second in the past 14 months alleging sexual misconduct by Hertz. The first, filed in June 2023 by two women, was settled in June of this year.

In the now-sealed complaint in state court, Yona Shine alleged the abuse began in the summer of 1982 when she was 13 years old and when Hertz was an adult, and she was a sitter for his family in a Catskills bungalow colony. Shine claims that Hertz sexually abused her by forcefully fondling, grabbing, groping and touching her, and forcing her to touch him and to look at pornography.

Shine was able to sue because of New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, similar to New York’s Adult Survivors Act; according to her complaint, an amendment passed by the city council in 2022 allowed her to bring the claims forward that were previously time barred.

Hertz, in court filings, said that his only recollection of Shine was of her as an adult. In April, he strenuously denied the allegations, according to his attorney Saul Bienenfeld, who called them “disturbing.”

“We have no intention of settling this case and we look forward to proving in court that these claims are false,” Bienenfeld said in a statement to The Real Deal on April 12. 

The case was settled on July 30.

“A business decision was made to resolve the matters,” said a spokesperson for Hertz.

Hertz is well known in New York real estate and is considered one of its leading land assemblers. He worked at Extell Development for 14 years, putting together development sites for the high-profile One57 and Central Park Tower condominiums.

He started his own firm, DH Property Holdings, in 2016 with a focus on industrial. Among his more notable projects, Hertz sought to build a 1.3 million-square-foot warehouse in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. He sold the unfinished project this year for $248 million.

A married father of five, Hertz is also a community philanthropist, directing his largest annual contributions to the all-girls Shulamith High School in Woodmere, New York. 

“I don’t think it’s my ego that drives me,” he told TRD in a 2021 interview. “I want to be successful. I want to contribute. I want to leave a lasting contribution.”

Shine’s complaint was detailed, tracing experiences with Hertz that began with what experts in child sexual abuse call “grooming,” according to the suit. It alleged that while she was babysitting, Hertz called the house phone, asked for Shine and began to ask her graphic questions about her sexual experience.

Shine alleged that later, as Hertz drove her home from babysitting his children, he parked on the side of Brooklyn’s Bay Parkway and forcefully fondled, grabbed and groped Shine. Shine alleged he forced her to kiss him, “shoving” his tongue into her mouth. Hertz allegedly grabbed Shine’s hand and forced it onto his penis.

Ten years later, Shine had to speak to Hertz about a work-related matter. On that occasion, Shine alleged in the suit, Hertz described many of the sexual relationships he’d had since last seeing her. She alleged that Hertz bragged that he met a 15-year-old girl at the bungalow colony and later had sex with her, and that Hertz told her that his goal was to teach all “young girls” about their sexuality, insisting that he should be “their first.”

Shine and her attorney, Jordan Merson, did not return requests for comment.

Second lawsuit

It was not the first time that Hertz faced sexual accusations.

Also in June of last year, two Israeli women, Levona Mori and Bar Sol Weitzman, sued Hertz for passing on sexually transmitted infections to them in seemingly joint encounters, according to court records obtained by TRD. The women alleged that from 2019 to 2020, they “engaged in various sexual encounters” with Hertz at “motels, hotels, as well as his place of business.” It was not clear if they meant DH Holdings headquarters at 2 Park Avenue or at other spaces owned by the firm.

The women alleged that DH Property Holdings and another Hertz entity, an LLC named DH Bridgedale, “paid and induced” them into having sexual encounters with him.

In their complaint, the women alleged that Hertz failed to inform them of his infection with a communicable disease. 

The women’s complaint alleged that Hertz’s entities paid for an abortion for one of the plaintiffs.

In 2023, the plaintiffs asked for $5 million apiece in compensation for injuries. The case was settled in June for an undisclosed amount and the documents were sealed.

Hertz’s defense

In court filings seeking to dismiss Shine’s case, Hertz’s legal team called her allegations a “fairy tale” and an extortion tactic. Hertz’s lawyer alleged that prior to the filing of the lawsuit, Shine’s legal team sought $3.5 million. Hertz’s lawyer also said Shine threatened to sue if Hertz did not settle.

Hertz claimed in court filings that his only recollection of Shine was when they were both married adults, and that Shine sought to “seduce” him. Hertz asserted that he “rebuffed her advances and now she is seeking her revenge.”

But sources who were present at the Mintz bungalow colony in Kauneonga Lake at the time of the alleged incidents told TRD that Shine did indeed work in child care positions those summers, and that she babysat for Hertz’s family among others.

Shine and Hertz are both members of an Orthodox Jewish community in which it has been especially difficult for people to come forward with allegations of abuse, for fear of being ostracized. Citing a risk of “retaliatory harm,” Shine initially attempted to file the suit anonymously, but a judge required her to file under her name to move forward, and she did so.

The judge also ruled that Shine should exclude from her complaint her assertion that a friend was in the back seat of the car during the alleged Belt Parkway incident. 

Bienenfeld previously alleged significant inconsistencies between Shine’s initial accusations and those in her amended complaint.

“The plaintiff had years and years to think about what happened, and when she gave over her story she lied and realized it and now wants to change it so even though it is false, it at least sounds plausible,” Hertz’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit said.

The lawyer also pointed to Shine’s allegation of an incident at a swimming pool at the bungalow colony. According to Hertz’s lawyers, this was impossible because men were not allowed at the pool when women were there.

Shine has worked in the construction consulting business in New York City for more than 30 years. She has filed one other lawsuit, in New York civil court, a slip-and-fall case against a Brooklyn spa.

Under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, accusers have the ability to sue in civil court from March 2023 until March 2025, even if the incidents happened long ago or have not been brought in criminal court. The law opened the door to several recent high-profile suits, including those against the Alexander brothers and Sean “Diddy” Combs. This law allowed Shine to sue; until its passing, she was barred from legal action because the statute of limitations had expired.

It is similar to New York state’s Adult Survivors Act of 2022. In the first year after the state law took effect, more than 3,000 civil lawsuits were filed under its auspices, the New York Times reported in November.

Hertz’s filing argued Shine’s allegation was time-barred and violated his right to due process, but New York Justice Rupert Barry ruled against him on both questions. The judge noted that the gender-motivated violence law was enacted to allow claims that were otherwise time-barred.

Once the case was settled on July 30, the documents were sealed.

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