Unhappy Bachelor Sues Matchmaker

S C A R S D A L E, N.Y., Aug. 3, 2001 -- The doctor who offered $200,000 to anyonewho would find him a wife also paid $50,000 to a Manhattanmatchmaker and now wants his money back, claiming she "preyed onhis overwhelming desire for companionship and marriage."

Paul Dantzig, 53, of Scarsdale, has filed a lawsuit againstJanis Spindel and her Serious Matchmaking Inc., saying theyviolated the law by charging him so much and breached his contractby sending him women who weren't interested in him or in marriage. The matchmaker says Dantzig is "a deeply troubled man" whoturned up his nose at 11 women who met all his prerequisites:"well-educated, upscale, professional Jewish women from goodfamilies with very high integrity and good values." "I can bring the horse to water, but I can't make him drink,"Spindel said Thursday. "I don't guarantee anything except thatI'll do my best."

Offered $200,000 to Meet Mrs. Right

The desperate dermatologist went public with his search for amate last year when he took out an extra-large personal ad in NewYork magazine offering $200,000 to whoever fixed him up with awoman he eventually marries. "If I was having any luck dating, I wouldn't be taking out thisad," he said at the time. "I just want to meet someone — one nicegirl." According to the lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court inManhattan, upper-crust matchmaker Spindel heard about the ad a yearago and promised Dantzig, a divorced father of two, that for$200,000 she would have him in "a stable relationship in sixmonths." They eventually settled on a $50,000 fee in exchange forintroductions to compatible women interested in marriage, courtpapers show. But the lawsuit claims each of the women referred to Dantzig"had little or nothing in common with him and in any event eachwas uninterested in developing a long-term relationship." It also alleges that some of the women "were part of a `stable'of women employed by defendants merely to create a false impressionof performing the contracted-for services."

Matchmaker: They Were Good Dates

Spindel denied that, saying all the women were clientsinterested in finding a mate. She also denied Dantzig's claim thatshe got around a business regulation that sets $1,000 as themaximum charge for a dating service by labeling the other $49,000as payment for "image consulting." She said the consulting feewas legitimate. "I earned much more than that," she said. "I tried to helphim dress. I tried to give him advice. … I also played hisshrink. I played his mother. I played his shoulder to cry on." Dantzig's attorney, Daniel Steinberg, would not comment on thelawsuit and would not say whether the doctor was having any recentluck finding a wife. Spindel, however, said Dantzig was still single a few monthsago. "The last time I spoke with him," she said, "he was datingsomeone from south of the border that he met on the Internet."