Richard Katz, a New York attorney, has had his lawsuit against The Setai Wall Street Club and Spa dismissed without comment by a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice who, according to one of the club's lawyers, berated him from the bench during a hearing that "he should be ashamed of himself" for filing suit.
According to The New York Daily News, the trouble began in August 2011, when the club stopped offering free yogurt, cereal and juice alongside coffee to morning exercisers. Katz, who paid $5,000 annually in membership dues over nearly two years ending in October 2011, complained vociferously in person and by e-mail to spa manager Amanda Wells, eventually spurring the club to cancel his membership. The cancellation came on the heels of an e-mail from Katz to Wells that read in part: "WHAT THE F--- IS GOING ON? … How would you like to explain there has been no yogurt for two (2) weeks and now no cereal. When does the coffee run out?"
Katz's suit demanded more than $100,000 in damages for the missing breakfasts, which he said the club had promised as part of his membership, plus $5,000 in damages for libel after Wells shared a copy of her cancellation e-mail to Katz that charged that he had "blatantly harassed [her] in a threatening manner for the duration of this year…." Wells filed an affidavit with the court saying Katz had consistently been "obnoxious, boorish and harassing" and used "profanity and threatening language" to complain about the breakfast problem.
In its dismissal of the case, the court ordered Katz to pay $440 to the club's lawyers.
