YAAKOV ABDELHAK v. THE JEWISH PRESS INC., OLEG RIVKIN,
RICHARD I. SCHARLAT and GABRIELLE TITO, et al.
A-2023-08T3 12-31-09
We reject plaintiff's contention that when a cause of
action is secular in nature, and the defendants are not
religious figures, there can be no excessive entanglement.
Where, as here, a jury cannot evaluate plaintiff's cause of
action without developing a keen understanding of religious
doctrine, and without applying such religious doctrine to the
facts presented, the excessive entanglement that the First
Amendment seeks to avoid is squarely presented. Thus, we
conclude that neither the secular nature of the cause of action
nor the secular professions of the defendants serve as a per se
bar to a finding of a lack of subject matter jurisdiction
