Matchmaker must pay disgruntled client $2.1 million

St. Louis Daily Record & St. Louis Countian, Jun 24, 2006 by Jaclyn Jaeger

The following article was originally published in Lawyers USA, a sister publication.

Anne Majerik, a 60-year-old widow from Erie, Pa., paid a Beverly Hills matchmaker $50,000 to be introduced to millionaires.

After disappointing results, Majerik paid another $25,000 for a consultation on how to present herself to wealthy men - and when that didn't work, she kicked in another $50,000 to upgrade to the billionaire search category.

But the high-priced dating service still failed to produce Mr. Right with the right-sized bank account. So Majerik sued.

Defense attorney Sandra Cannon countersued, calling Majerik a serial matchmaker suer, noting that she had sued another California dating service in 1999 and settled for a confidential amount. She said Majerik had a history of enjoying herself with the men she met, then claiming she had been psychologically damaged by the process.

But the jury didn't buy the countersuit, and said so loud and clear by awarding the plaintiff $2.1 million, including $2 million in punitive damages.

Plaintiffs' attorney Douglas Gilliland said his client's search for a new husband was never about the money.

She was really more interested in the description, Gilliland said.

The description he referred to was the promise from matchmaker Orly Hadida to introduce Majerik to older, secured, refined, educated men, who earned more than $1 million per year and had estates of up to $50 million.

And it didn't happen, said Gilliland.

Labeled the most expensive service of its kind in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, Orly the Matchmaker charges up to $200,000 per client.

A former model who served in the Israeli army, Hadida justifies her prices by claiming on her Web site to provide a 100 percent guarantee that we'll find your soulmate. She claims that her clients include elite, wealthy, famous and professional men from all over the world and vows to spend one-on-one time with each client to ensure compatibility in lifestyles, careers, values and goals.

To become a client, applicants must fill out a three-page questionnaire and provide a photo. Hadida then requires an in-depth phone interview and, if the applicant meets her approval, she requires an up-front payment by check. She does not accept credit cards.

Majerik, a social worker who specializes in marriage counseling, was ripe for the scam, according to Gilliland.

Her husband had died suddenly of a heart attack and, as a financial planner, had put aside a nice chunk of money in case of his death. Three years after his death, Majerik decided it was time to take the advice she had been giving her own clients for years, which is to pick yourself up and start living the rest of your life, said Gilliland.

Since she wasn't interested in or adept at the bar scene, she decided to use the money her husband had left her to work with a professional matchmaking service.

When Majerik signed up for Hadida's service in December 2002, she thought she was getting the best service in the world, said Gilliland.

Some people buy a Mercedes because they want a nice car, he explained. She decided that she was not going to mess around. She felt that she was going to have the best matchmaker in the world and get what she paid for, which turned out not to be true.

Gilliland knew one of the toughest parts of his case was going to be the jury's initial reaction to a woman who spent $100,000 to meet a millionaire - either she's a gold digger, a fool or both.

So Gilliland decided to take the issue head on.

In our case, I felt the $100,000 reflects the loneliness and desperation that some people out there feel who are approaching 60 or over who have recently lost their lifelong mate, said Gilliland. In this case, my client was married over 30 years and raised two children, was happily married, and her husband suddenly died of a heart attack one day with no warning.

He said that it is no coincidence that Hadida specialized in people between 50 and 70 years old, because these people are usually widowed or divorced and are among the wealthiest and most vulnerable.

They are looking for financial stability and culture so that they can enter their golden years with security, he said.

Gilliland noted that while claiming to be the most successful matchmaker in the country for 25 years, Hadida did not call a single satisfied customer to testify on her behalf.

Press accounts of the case have also noted that Hadida has been sued several times by disgruntled clients. Her personal affairs were a cause celebre in the 1980s, when she was accused of kidnapping her children from her ex-husband - whom she accused of molesting them - then burning down their Palm Springs home. She was acquitted of both charges.

Majerik claimed that the six men Hadida matched her with did not fit the specifications she had been promised.

She met this man - a very nice man - but he was a retired fireman from Pennsylvania, said Gilliland. And her 'international banker,' turned out to be an interpreter who worked at a bank.

The cattle rancher told her he was about to declare bankruptcy and one of the men politely declined a date because he was already in a relationship.