Divorce Drama: Kirkland Partner Sues Wife re Alleged Affair & STD

Family Law

Divorce Drama: Kirkland Partner Sues Wife re Alleged Affair & STD

Posted Sep 22, 2008, 02:19 pm CST
By Martha Neil

Private equity partner Frederick Tanne of Kirkland & Ellis was already expecting a difficult year because of the market slowdown.

But now it's clearly gotten worse. The 48-year-old New York lawyer has sued his wife, Amy, 46, in Manhattan Supreme Court, contending that she gave him a sexually transmitted disease she contracted during an affair with a Westchester County accountant, reports the New York Post. Frederick Tanne claims he learned of the alleged affair in May. At that time, public records show, he moved from the couple's Westchester County home to an apartment on Park Avenue and filed for divorce.

The lawsuit also names as defendants his wife's alleged lover, contending that the accountant knowingly transmitted his herpes to her without informing her of his infection as required by law, and his wife's father, a physician, contending that he treated his daughter and conspired with her to hide the infidelity and infection, the newspaper writes.

However, Amy Tanne's father tells the Post that his daughter doesn't have herpes and never had an affair. "This is pure nonsense," says Dr. Samuel Messing. "I prescribed Valtrex for a cold sore on her lip. She never had a cold sore until she married him."

Amy Tanne, who apparently also is an attorney, according to the Am Law Daily, declined to comment, the Post reports.

Frederick Tanne is seeking an unspecified amount of compensation for medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering.

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Posted by amy - 1 month, 4 weeks, 1 day, 12 hours, 35 minutes ago

I’m surprised there aren’t more lawsuits like this. It’s is quite frightening how many STD’s males (or females) carry. I know many female victims in this regard from promiscuous male attorneys (not to say females are any better, I just don’t know of any stories) who have passed on a plethora of STD’s and don’t give a flying hoot about the consequences. Condoms do not stop transmission either. Beware, I have learned that men in positions of power (i.e. attorneys) are usually (not always) very promiscuous and don’t give a flying hoot to disclose their STD status even though they KNOW they have it.
Posted by C Smith - 1 month, 3 weeks, 6 days, 5 minutes ago

Have you never heard of invasion of privacy? Even if it’s a matter of public record, what business is it of ours if another lawyer has a fling or catches herpes? Why is crap like this being published by the ABA?
Posted by Ellen Barshevsky - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 23 hours, 20 minutes ago

I agree with both posts. Sexual issues belong in the bedroom, not the newspaper (or BLAWGs like this one).

I would NEVER publicize it if I were ever to get divorced, even though Im not yet married, I dont think my boyfriend would want the publicity either.

I think married people ought to trust each other, but if it doesnt work out, you will know it, and will have to do something about it.

But it becomes more difficult if there are children in the mixture. WOMEN are usually the cartakers, and the males go out of the home, like here, move into Manhattan.

As for STD’s I agree this is a problem. Here, the father, a DOCTOR, confirmed that she never had HERPES until after she married, and that he did NOT treat her for an STD.

As usual, the Male Lawyer is mukraking the Woman, who can do little to prove that she is right.

I suggest that the man had his own apartment in Manhattan, and that he was NOT playing Parcheezi, either, when he came home from work. There are PLENTY of women who would find a Partner in a BIG law firm to be a catch for them, even if he was not physically a hunky type.

It would be his financial earning capability that attracts those women known as gold-diggers.

All of this only goes to say that this is NOT something we should speculate about. My boyfriend says that His private life and her private life is his business and her business, and I agree with him.
Posted by rosesm - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 22 hours, 14 minutes ago

ABA, why is this news? A Kirkland partner is going through a messy divorce. So? I can’t believe someone thought I’d be interested just because they got to write about herpes when posting this article. Try harder, and leave this obviously tragic couple’s private life alone.
Posted by BC - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 21 hours, 19 minutes ago

WOW! This seems more like an Above the Law article than an ABA post. I can’t believe that I just wasted a minute of my life reading it because reallly, herpes or no herpes, I don’t know the kirkland partner, i.e., I don’t care.
Posted by brad - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 51 minutes ago

Seriously, do you people call yourselves lawyers? Do you lose critical thinking in matters related to the bedroom? For the love of god, she probably had the herp in both places, told her dad about the cold sore on the lips (wonder how she got that), so she got her script from him. Who tells their dad they are a dirty whore anyways?

Funny how women are quick to blame the guy who got cheated on and believe the woman’s FATHER that she didnt cheat on him. Funny how women act is if all men are cheating b@stards. So while we are throwing stones, it has been my experience that women are equally if not more ethically questionable in the cheating department than the men.

But then again, I am sure in New York, everyone is morally corrupt and are cheating on each other with reckless abandon.
Posted by Associate Zero - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 46 minutes ago

Cheating with an accountant? What, were the actuaries and morticians taken?

No, that’s unfair to morticians - they are supposed to have personalities.
Posted by The Chum - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 44 minutes ago

Oh come on, you at least got to read Barshevsky’s latest idiotic post, where, in a surprise twist, she blames an entire gender, somewhere near 3 billion people, for the problems of a single married couple.

Oh wait…
Posted by slashdot - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 41 minutes ago

The comments here are starting to get like those on /.

Which is good, because those are a LOT funnier.

Post 3: please do tell us more about your boyfriend. He seems like a fascinating person.
Posted by Joe - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 37 minutes ago

Here’s the lesson: If you are going to cheat on your spouse, know that you can’t trust the person you are cheating with.
Posted by Disgusted - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 21 minutes ago

This is the last straw. I will unsubscribe from the ABA Journal emails today and may reconsider other affiliations with the ABA. I don’t not pay ABA dues so that it can pay someone to write this trash.
Posted by brad - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 18 minutes ago

The topic isnt trash (suing for STD’s in a divorce). Just the way it was unprofessionally written. Dont expect too much from hack journalists writing an article from scratch.
Posted by trooth - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 8 minutes ago

Quit whining. File a lawsuit, and it becomes public. It’s that simple. Herpes is an eruptive, ahem, subject—just ask Paris Hilton If this guy wanted to keep it under wraps, he should have sought relief from the NY Court of Backdoor Justice.
Posted by Mr. Springer - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 8 minutes ago

I had to do a double take. I thought I was reading a story from the National Enquirer. Come on ABA, surely you can find something more newsworthy ABOUT THE LAW than highlighting a lawyers’ personal struggles in their own divorce.
Posted by Drudge Ette Obama a blog - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 1 minute ago

Just when I was hyperventilating over the impending market crash and making a mad rush to my bank to withdraw some cash, I read this article. Somehow I am more calm, but I can’t say why. I have no outrage left in me after years of Jerry Springer, Britney Spears and those court t.v. shows. God help us all, even those with STDs and the gene for infidelity.
Posted by STL - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 19 hours, 38 minutes ago

I agree that this story is worthless but there is no chance I’ll be canceling my ABA membership. The entertainment Ellen provides through her insane comments every Friday makes it worth every penny.
Posted by Allison - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes ago

I think it’s hilarious how people are complaining that the ABA published such “trash”. These same people saw what the article was about through it’s title and then made a conscious choice to click the link and read it.
Posted by Mark Pellegrino - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, 40 minutes ago

I am no longer inclined to retain my membership in the ABA and, in fact, if offered, would accept a pro-rated refund for the remainder of the pending membership period. What a wholly discraceful editorial decision to include a piece of garbage like this in a quote unquote journal of law. I am frankly embarrassed today to be a member of this ABA.
Posted by PNT - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, 29 minutes ago

#9 and #16 - I’m still laughing. Thank you.

#3 I hope you comment on every article on this site.

And for those of you with the outrage - seriously?
Posted by Pessa - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 17 hours, 56 minutes ago

Haha. Juicy. Good luck getting a date post-divorce homie.
Posted by Dr. Welby II - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 16 hours, 16 minutes ago

Excuse me, Dr. Tanne, but everyone knows cold sores are caused by the herpes virus. It’s just a benign name for the same thing.
Posted by Hadley V. Baxendale - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 15 hours, 50 minutes ago

I always thought “STD” stood for a doctorate in sacred theology
Posted by RF - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 15 hours, 34 minutes ago

I can’t believe the ABA Journal put out this article. This is something more fit for the tabloids.
Posted by R - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 23 minutes ago

Ugh! How vulgar!

(I’m not talking about the herpes. I’m talking about an affair with an accountant from Westchester County!)
Posted by JR - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 13 hours, 37 minutes ago

#23 - So what makes you think the ABA Journal isn’t a tabloid? In my many years of this game, I’ve seen it go down hill from the days when San Francisco loud-mouth Melvin Beli proclaimed that getting kicked out of the ABA was like getting dropped from the book-of-the-month club.

As for whether this is a proper posting for a “legal journal”, my personal opinion is no better than anyone else’s. One thing, however, I do wish Ellen (#3) would tell us more about her boyfriend. She says, he says, “My boyfriend says that His private life and her private life is his business and her business…“

Does this mean that “his private life” is private from her? If so, I do like this guy, but can’t imagine he’d stay married to Ellen for very long.

Ellen, its fine to be offended. But please don’t be so offended as to quit providing all this entertainment. After a week of trial with a beautiful young female lawyer on the other side, and a nit-wit political appointee judge in the middle, I need a good laugh!

Have a good week end!
Posted by DCEsq. - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 12 hours, 55 minutes ago

There are so many critical issues on which to report in the field of family law. Is this the most important thing taking place in that field that requires such shamelessly casual reporting? I’m embarrassed for the ABA.
Posted by George - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes ago

Hey, doesn’t this violate the laws of ethics or being a professional lawyer. I mean common, the accountant should lose his CPA because he did not properly account for his genitals being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And the lawyer should actually be suing the government because I am sure the government created Herpes just to afflict lawyers. Imagine if the doctor was actually talking about this lawyer’s hair piece but his accent was too strong and the lawyer missunderstood that it was herpes.
Posted by drudge ette obama - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 13 minutes ago

George at #27. You’re a hoot!
Posted by drudge ette obama - 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 10 minutes ago

And one more thing….I am selling my ABA membership on EBAY.
Posted by JR - However, not the same 'JR' as poster #25 - 1 month, 3 weeks, 4 days, 7 hours, 57 minutes ago

I have to say the comments here are more interesting or maybe amusing than the article. And to poster #25, great post.
I didn’t click on the headline to read some juicy or scandalous nonsense though. I thought I might read information relating to the sensitive legal issues that could be faced in a situation like this. I thought the headline was a bit over the top but it seems it continued right on through. At least the writer was consistent.
I don’t know and don’t care who the people involved are but their lives are not private (if they ever really were) once a suit has been filed - it’s public record. All it takes is for the wrong person to get wind of it and the file is there for the viewing by just about anyone who wants to see it - possibly even online. Unless you ask for and get it sealed/protected right from the start.
The topic of the article is, or could be, interesting or valuable legal info (privacy, individual rights, HIPAA, complex/complicated divorce issues, etc.) but came off being perceived as tabloid garbage. Too bad, but I think it’s just a matter of the style in which it was written.
As for the good DOCTOR - what about HIPAA? He should know better.
Posted by Michael C. Murphy - 1 month, 3 weeks, 2 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes ago

The story is inappropriate for a professional journal.
Posted by Willem DeDonis - 1 month, 3 weeks, 2 days, 21 hours, 27 minutes ago

Come on, Murphy, get with the program. Things can’t be that bad at home that you can’t use a laugh or two.
Posted by mdooo1 - 1 month, 3 weeks, 21 hours, 8 minutes ago

Barshevsky, women like you ARE the reason men cheat on women. Thank you for taking away whatever slight guilt I might have had for doing so in prior years.

Those ‘outraged’ about this article, come on now.

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