“She is allowed to occasionally go and drink without her daughter present,” Judge Michael Katz said, according to Radar Online, which was the first to report the news. “What exactly is your claim? That she goes out and occasionally has a drink, because that’s not illegal.”
Katz eventually ruled there wasn’t sufficient evidence to order drug and alcohol testing, telling Hoppy, “I think you are trying to exploit Ms. Frankel to embarrass her. The appeal is denied.”
Hoppy and his legal team had argued Frankel’s drinking on the Bravo hit reality show —and the apparent fatal overdose of her on-off boyfriend Dennis Shields in August — should require her to submit to an emergency drug test, previously citing “downright dangerous parenting.”
However, Frankel’s lawyer insisted that she had no evidence that Shields had a drug problem, adding that her on-screen drinking was simply entertainment for the reality show.
“With respect to Dennis, the judge said [Hoppy and his team] were trying to use his death to their advantage,” a source familiar with the case tells PEOPLE. “The clear implication being that it was inappropriate that they were trying to use that tragedy.”
Frankel is seeking primary custody and full decision-making power over Bryn, but Hoppy wants to keep the current joint custody arrangement the same. The custody trial is scheduled for March 2019.
As previously reported, Frankel and Hoppy's relationship has been tumultuous since their 2012 split. Their divorce was finalized back in July 2016 after more than three years of custody and financial battles. The two made headlines again in 2017 after Hoppy was arrested for allegedly stalking and harassing Frankel. The Bravo reality star was later granted a six-month order of protection against Hoppy.
