By Joseph Ax
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Monday appealed a judge's decision to allow to move forward a civil lawsuit brought against him by a hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault.
In court papers filed in the Bronx, Strauss-Kahn's legal team argued that New York state Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon erred in ruling last month that the former International Monetary Fund chief was not entitled to diplomatic immunity.
Nafissatou Diallo, a maid at the Sofitel Hotel in midtown Manhattan, accused Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in his suite on May 14, 2011. He has said the encounter was consensual, and prosecutors eventually dropped the charges against him last summer after they grew concerned about Diallo's credibility.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have argued that he had absolute immunity from both criminal and civil prosecution at the time of the incident, based on a 1947 U.N. treaty that grants protection to the heads of specialized agencies. Though the U.S. is not a signatory, they asserted that it had become so widely accepted that it has the force of international law worldwide.
But McKeon rejected that claim May 1, calling it a "Hail Mary" attempt and pointing out that Strauss-Kahn failed to assert his immunity at any point during the criminal investigation, even when he was pulled from an Air France airplane and placed under arrest.
The appeal will be considered by the Appellate Division, First Department, an intermediate New York appellate court.
Kenneth Thompson, an attorney for Diallo, said he believed the judge's ruling would be upheld on appeal.
"We believe the first department will uphold Judge McKeon's decision regarding Strauss-Kahn's baseless motion to dismiss," Thompson said.
Photographs of a dishevelled Strauss-Kahn shepherded into court appeared around the globe, and the scandal would end his plans to seek the French presidency.
But prosecutors eventually lost faith in Diallo's account, saying she lied about her past and offered several versions of her actions immediately following the encounter with Strauss-Kahn.
Diallo filed the civil lawsuit a few weeks before the criminal case was dismissed in August. Since then, Strauss-Kahn's legal troubles have continued. French authorities announced in March he is under formal investigation in connection with a prostitution ring in the northern city of Lille.
His French lawyers have accused authorities of harassing Strauss-Kahn for his "libertine ways" and denied any criminal wrongdoing.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by M.D. Golan)
