Dalton bids to dismiss ‘molest’ lawsuit

The Dalton School is trying to duck a lawsuit by a former student who claims she was sexually assaulted by the elite Upper East Side prep institution’s headmaster 30 years ago.

The school — where actor Chevy Chase and journalist Anderson Cooper studied — is arguing that the New Jersey court where the lawsuit was filed has no jurisdiction over it.

“Dalton has no substantial affiliation with New Jersey,” the school’s attorneys claim in court papers.

The victim, identified as J.S., was 14 years old when then-headmaster Gardner Dunnan allegedly groped her at his Manhattan apartment and his New Jersey summer home in 1986 and 1987.

J.S. f iled suit in New Jersey where the statute of limitations for sexual-abuse cases is more flexible than in New York.

“Dalton argues this court has no jurisdiction over it — yet it’s 14-year-old charge would not have been sexually assaulted but for Dalton,” Mariann Wang, attorney for the now 46-yearold accuser says in a response f iled in federal court.

“J.S. suffered as she did only because the man who embodied, represented and led Dalton for nearly a quarter century was empowered to commit the abuse,” Wang says.

J.S. lived with Dunnan’s family while attending the East 89th Street school tuition-free in exchange for working as a “family helper.”

Dunnan was forced to resign as Dalton’s headmaster in 1997 — after 23 years — because of an affair with a married teacher.

His attorney said he “vehemently denies” the abuse allegations.

A Dalton spokeswoman said, “As this is ongoing litigation we feel it is not appropriate for us to comment at this time.”