The yoga instructor is accused of forcing Spencer Wolff to do a handstand too close to window in an overcrowded class.
- Feb 18, 2013
AceShowbiz - Alec Baldwin's pregnant wife Hilaria Thomas is facing a lawsuit from one of the students in her January 15 yoga class. Spencer Wolff, 32, claims he suffered severe injuries after asked by the instructor to "perform a dangerous activity at a wall" in a jam-packed room, citing "negligence" on her part for the alleged accident.
New York Post reports that Wolff, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in comparative literature at Yale who blogs for the Huffington Post and holds degrees in law from Columbia and the Sorbonne in Paris, was forced to do a handstand too close to window due to the overcrowded space. He allegedly hit the window and shattered the glass.
He reportedly "ripped open his left leg and foot after he lost his balance and crashed into a sixth-floor window" at Yoga Vida near Union Square. There's a lot of blood in the dramatic fall. He was wrapped in a blanket and rushed via ambulance to Weill-Cornell Medical Center. His male friend accompanied him to the hospital along with Thomas, 28.
Wolff accuses the instructor of putting her students in "extreme danger" by letting them "exceed a safe and/or maximum allowable number of persons." According to one student, her class that opens for beginners and advanced participants with $10 per individual gets insanely crowded that there's only one-inch space or two between mats.
Wolff's Lawyer Paul Weitz says due to the serious injuries, Wolff "can't flex the ankle and the foot points downward. He's in a boot," adding that "he is worried whether he'll be able to use his leg normally again - and right now it�s a waiting game."
The yoga studio hasn't commented on the lawsuit, but a friend of Thomas' insists she did nothing wrong. The friend claims Wolff was doing the handstand incorrectly and was told to stop but continued anyway.
Thomas has been a yoga instructor since 2005. She's currently expecting her first child with Baldwin.
