Members Only: Palm Beach’s Taja was previously accused of setting fire to her own home for fame

Members Only: Palm Beach star Tahja Abitol was previously ordered to pay the legal bills of a neighbour who accused her of setting fire to her own house.

She was involved in a lawsuit after her neighbour, Daniel Rice, claimed she attempted to burn down her apartment in Manhattan in 2019 in order to get cast on The Real Housewives of New York.

Taja then denied these claims and attempted to sue Daniel for defamation.

However, in July 2024, a New York Country Supreme Court Judge dismissed the case and ruled that Taja needed to pay all Daniel’s legal fees.

The ruling stated: “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,” as reported by the New York Post.

“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.”

Taja previously told The New York Post that on the morning of November 9th, 2019, she’d lit a sage candle in order to meditate in the dining room. However, whilst she was praying the candle went up in flames and set off the sprinklers for the building.

The NYPD and FDNY were called “immediately”, with it later being ruled an accident, Taja claimed. A report by the fire department confirmed this.

Her neighbour alleged in his original lawsuit against her that Taja and her husband, David 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.”

The lawsuit also claimed that the sprinklers caused Daniel to undergo a “gut renovation” of his 12th floor apartment, and requested at least $320,000 in damages.

However, Taja denied starting the fire for fame, saying: “One thing has nothing to do with the other … This was a defective candle. It was a pure accident.”

She then sued Daniel for defamation over statements he’d made to the I Love The Upper West Side blog before he filed 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 has actually not happened.

After the judge dismissed her lawsuit, Taja filed an appeal, with her attorney telling The New York 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 Taja had also passed a polygraph test which had been filed with the court.

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