LEGAL

Judge Rejects DSK’s Immunity Claim

Says civil lawsuit by accuser will go to court.

A Bronx judge on Tuesday rejected a claim by Dominique Strauss-Kahn for diplomatic immunity in a civil lawsuit against the woman who accused him of sexual assault. Referring to Strauss-Kahn’s claim as a “Hail Mary” pass, Judge Douglas McKeon said the former IMF chief did not claim diplomatic immunity in his criminal trial and thus could not claim it in a civil one. Strauss-Kahn, once considered a shoo-in for the Socialist nomination for the French presidency, was accused last year of sexual assault by Guinean immigrant Nafissatou Diallo, a maid at the glitzy Sofitel Hotel in Times Square, and was eventually cleared of criminal charges after prosecutors found issues with Diallo’s credibility.