In October 2021, Tamar Herman, a beloved Jewish teacher at Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, New Jersey, had her world turned upside down when several prominent figures with large social media followings falsely accused her of abusing and discriminating against one of her second-grade students, a Muslim girl. The ensuing firestorm came to a head with Ms. Herman being wrongfully suspended from her teaching position, subjected to death threats, and forced to relocate to a different County.
Almost one year later, in October 2022, the New York, NY-based firm of Bochner PLLC commenced a lawsuit for Defamation and False Light in New Jersey Superior Court in Union County to hold those who smeared Ms. Herman’s name and ignited hate accountable their anti-Semitic and destructive false statements. The lawsuit, which names as Defendants Olympic fencer and author Ibtihaj Muhammad, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), CAIR-NJ (CAIR’s New Jersey chapter), and CAIR-NJ’s Executive Director Selaedin Maksut (the “Defendants”), alleges that the Defendants published numerous online lies about Ms. Herman’s interaction with the second-grade student in order to draw attention to themselves and generate anti-Semitic outrage amongst their hundreds of thousands of social media followers.
Specifically, regarding Muhammad, Herman asserted that she exchanged several text messages with Muhammad the next evening and two days after the postings, explaining the information in her posts was false. However, according to Herman, "Muhammad made no effort to verify the truth of these accusations because she did not care whether the allegations were true or false, because making them would generate publicity for her." Herman stresses that Muhammad "admitted that she was relying on the recall of a [seven]-year-old," who was coached by her mother in a now-deleted video.
Herman also alleges that "almost one month after the initial posts –– Muhammad referred to the teacher-student interaction as the 'alleged incident,'" thereby, indicating Muhammad knew she "committed libel against Herman and was (unsuccessfully) attempting to buffer herself against" her prior statements. Herman's allegations of actual malice were not merely conclusory. Nor did she perfunctorily parrot the legal test. Rather, she detailed facts questioning whether Muhammad knew or had serious doubts about the veracity of the student's reports of the incident as relayed to the student's mother and Muhammad's mother. And while Muhammad's communications with Herman occurred after the posts, the allegation that Muhammad did not modify her accusations against Herman can be viewed as evidence of her subjective intent in her posts. Muhammad later reference to the incident as "alleged" can be viewed as expressing serious doubts about her posts.
In early 2023 the Defendants filed motions to dismiss Ms. Herman’s lawsuit, and Muhammad also filed a motion for summary judgment. Months of heavy motion practice followed.
As previously reported here on FAA News, back in October 2023, following a one-hour oral argument Judge Daniel R. Lindemann denied all four of Defendant’s motions, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.
Earlier this year the New Jersey Appellate Division affirmed the lower court's ruling as to Olympic fencer and author Ibtihaj Muhammad only.
Muhammad trekked on and appealed to the Supreme Court, the state's highest court.
The Supreme Court has just rebuffed these efforts, thus allowing the lawsuit to proceed and Ms. Herman the opportunity to vindicate her reputation.
Shortly after the allegations surfaced, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, which is responsible for investigating local bias crimes, launched a probe into the incident. After continuing an assessment for a few months, in January 2022, they concluded there was insufficient evidence to sustain a criminal prosecution against Herman.
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