Judge to rule Tuesday on Strauss-Kahn suit's fate

A New York judge is expected to rule next Tuesday whether to toss out a civil lawsuit against former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn brought by the hotel maid who accused him of sexually assaulting her.

A spokesman for the court system, David Bookstaver, said the decision will be released on Tuesday morning. The ruling had initially been expected at the end of this week.

Nafissatou Diallo, a maid at the Sofitel Hotel in midtown Manhattan, accused Strauss-Kahn of attacking her in his suite last May 14 and forcing her to perform oral sex.

Bronx Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon is considering a motion from Strauss-Kahn's lawyers to dismiss the lawsuit because Strauss-Kahn enjoyed diplomatic immunity as head of the IMF at the time of the encounter.

Strauss-Kahn was arrested and resigned from the IMF days later, ending his plans to seek the French presidency.

New York prosecutors dropped the criminal charges against him last August, saying they were no longer convinced of Diallo's credibility after she changed her account several times of what she did in the moments following the incident.

Diallo filed the lawsuit a few weeks before the dismissal of the criminal case. Strauss-Kahn has said the encounter was consensual, and his lawyers have accused Diallo of financial motives.

McKeon heard arguments from lawyers on both sides earlier this month. The lawsuit was filed in the Bronx, where Diallo resides.