Partner of ex-Yankees pitcher David Cone ordered to pay neighbor’s legal bills in ‘Housewives’ fire lawsuit
The longtime partner of Yankees legend and YES Network commentator David Cone has been ordered to pay the legal bills of a neighbor who accused her of setting fire to her home for fame.
Taja Abitbol was at the center of a wild lawsuit after neighbor Daniel Rice claimed she tried to burn down her Manhattan apartment in 2019 to land a gig on “The Real Housewives of New York.”
Abitbol denied this and responded by suing Rice for defamation.
However, in a decision on July 9, a New York County Supreme Court judge dismissed the case and ruled that Abitbol, 52, must pay all of Rice’s legal fees.
“There is ample evidence of Plaintiff attempting to gain notoriety from the fire by talking about it on talk shows and publicizing the fire on her Instagram,” a ruling seen by The Post stated.
“Plaintiff was also featured in a New York Page Six article just three months prior to the fire as being someone who was ‘obsessed’ with getting on ‘Real Housewives of New York’ and had apparently failed four auditions.”
As Abitbol previously told The Post, on the morning of Nov. 9, 2019, she lit a sage candle for morning meditation in the dining room of her and Cone’s four-bedroom apartment in Lincoln Square.
As she said her prayers, Abitbol explained, the candle went up in flames, setting off the building’s sprinklers.
The NYPD and FDNY were called “immediately” to the incident, which was later ruled an accident, Abitbol said. A report by the fire department confirmed this.
The next day, Abitbol appeared on the “Tamron Hall Show” talking about the incident.
Rice, who lives downstairs, claimed in his original lawsuit that Abitbol and Cone “deliberately, knowingly, intentionally and/or recklessly … caused the fire … in order for Abitbol to have a story to discuss on the ‘Tamron Hall Show’ and/or to advance Abitbol’s candidacy as a castmate for the ‘Real Housewives of New York [City]’ television show, among other things.
“Abitbol’s desire for fame and notoriety is well-known,” Rice’s lawsuit, which is ongoing, alleged.
It also claimed water sprinklers forced Rice to carry out a “gut renovation” of his 12th-floor apartment, and requested at least $320,000 in damages.
Abitbol, who is friends with some of the Real Housewives, denied setting the fire for fame, adding, “One thing has nothing to do with the other … This was a defective candle. It was a pure accident.”
She sued Rice, an Army vet, for defamation over statements he made to the “I Love The Upper West Side” blog prior to filing his lawsuit, along with statements he later made to the FDNY and to The Post, in which he said there was an open investigation into the fire, which was not the case.
Now that a judge has dismissed her lawsuit, Abitbol — who has been splitting her time between Miami, where she runs her wellness center, Taja Drip, and NYC with Cone and their 12-year-old son Sammy — has filed an appeal.
In a statement, her attorney, Eric Lerner told The Post, “This decision is being appealed and we feel confident the First Department will reverse the lower court’s erroneous decision.”
He also confirmed that Abitbol had also passed a polygraph test which had been filed with the court.
The Post is told that Abitbol is still suing the rental building for failing to control its sprinklers, and there is an ongoing case against the manufacturers of the candle.
