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L.I. Land
Sale Scandal By Nancie L. Katz Officials in Brooklyn Surrogate's Court improperly sold off a piece of East End real estate - never notifying the property's rightful owners, the Daily News has learned. The parcel on Montauk Highway in Quogue, L.I., was auctioned off for $121,000 in 2000, even though the land had been deeded to the deceased owner's three nephews. "They've taken everything from the estate and given it to their friends," complained Joseph Smith, 72, one of three brothers who inherited the land. The mismanaged transaction is now part of a widening criminal probe into the Brooklyn's public administrator's office, the branch of Surrogate's Court that handles the estates of people who die without wills. In 2002, a News probe exposed how Michael Feinberg, the former Brooklyn surrogate who was kicked off the bench last year, routinely awarded millions of dollars in excessive fees to longtime pal Louis Rosenthal. Feinberg made Rosenthal counsel to public administrator Marietta Small. In the Smith case, Rosenthal pocketed $11,000 in legal fees, and Small's office took $5,000 in commissions. In a recent report, the public administrator now admits that the fees were improper. It also concluded that the Quogue parcel was sold "notwithstanding" the fact that the "property had previously been deeded to [Smith's] distributees." Smith's nephews knew nothing of the sale until a family accountant discovered it last year. The nephews had assumed they still owned the land, even having it appraised at nearly $600,000 last year. Investigators sent by Sheryl Spatz, the inspector general for the state courts, were "shocked" at the disorder of estate files in Surrogate's Court, sources said. "There is such disarray that investigators are trying to determine if it's incompetence or a smoke screen for theft," said a knowledgeable source. Joseph Smith said he plans to sue the public administrator's office for damages and still hopes to recover the lost homestead. A hearing on the case is set for today.
Roofless People The agreement calls for a
public auction of Mary McQuiller's three-story Fort Greene building,
valued at a half-million dollars, with a chunk of the proceeds going
to RCF Capital, the company that tried to buy it in 2004 On Jan. 20, 2004, she was whisked in a cab sent by RCF to a lawyer's office on Staten Island, where she agreed to sell the property for $175,000, according to Sam's lawyer, Ravi Batra. That's approximately half its value, since the buyer would assume $75,000 in outstanding debt. Sam intervened, tearing up the contract and asking RCF to do the same. In a fax dated May 26, RCF chief executive Frank Rosemberg wrote to lawyer John Caminiti - who he said represented Mary at the closing - and indicated that he would deep-six the deal, Sam said. "This is an official confirmation that we are canceling the contract on the above property," the fax reads. "We have to do a better job in the future." Two months later, Mary, who never made a will, was dying - and the sale suddenly came back to life. Rosemberg sued to enforce the contract and claim the building. The Public Administrator, which administers estates of people who die without a will, fought the suit but then inexplicably signed off on a deal: Rosemberg would withdraw his claim, but the PA would auction the property and earmark $85,000 for him. Batra called the move outrageous. "People expect that their case will be safely handled in the courthouse and they will not get mugged and robbed there," he said. Rosemberg insists that the $175,000 he was willing to pay for the building was extremely generous, given its run-down condition. He added that the letter he faxed to Caminiti wasn't meant to cancel his purchase - just his involvement with the lawyer in the deal. "I run a respectable business," Rosemberg said. The parties return to court April 24 to discuss whether Sam will be able to hold onto the property. The PA's Office is currently facing a state investigation for alleged mishandling of estates. Caminiti didn't return phone calls. Nor did Public Administrator Marietta Small or her lawyer. Families Tell Sorry Tale of 2 Estates Plundered in Boro By Nancie L. Katz Frances Raymous and Mary Doran had nothing in common while they lived. But after they died in 1999, these two childless Brooklyn homeowners may have become victims of ousted Surrogate Michael Feinberg and his buddy, Louis Rosenthal, the counsel to Public Administrator Marietta Small. In handling Raymous' $1.2 million estate, Rosenthal and various handpicked contractors generated bills for nearly $230,000 - even though the house was vacant, according to court records. While the estate was under Small's charge, a couple fraudulently gained access to Raymous' home - allegedly stealing her furnishings, jewelry and collector items she gathered from her many worldwide travels, said her niece, Dorothy Clingman. After the couple was arrested and forced to move out, an illegal squatter then moved in - even though a management company was being paid $8,000 from Raymous' estate to guard the property. The management company failed to evict the squatter and ended up paying thousands of dollars from the estate in utility bills while the illegal tenant was making himself at home. Court files also showed Rosenthal's office indicated the property sold for $455,000 one week after Small signed an affidavit that it sold for $485,000 - a $30,000 error. Clingman said she repeatedly contacted Rosenthal's office to report the miscalculation, but she got the runaround for months. The estate still isn't settled, but Rosenthal's office has collected nearly $80,000. "He didn't do a durn thing to earn that," said Clingman. "They don't deserve one penny. There are things of value to us we'll never, ever get back. My aunt worked hard to buy that house. I thought they were supposed to protect the public." After Mary Doran's death, her cousins handed Small's office the keys, bank records and deed to her Bay Ridge home. In its initial appraisal, Rosenthal's office shorted her estate $148,000 from the sale of the Bay Ridge house and various bank accounts. It was corrected after her kin notified his office. Rosenthal and Small's office eventually took $48,000 as fees from Doran's $375,000 estate, according to court records. Robert Wilson, Doran's cousin, said the family never heard what happened to 18 lots of jewelry that were to be sold at auction three years ago. Now Wilson says all they
want are priceless family photos. "She knew where our parents and
grandparents were born. In those drawers were pictures and family
keepsakes. All gone." Ex-judge Focus in Thefts
from Dead with No Wills
Louis R. Rosenthal, former counsel to the public administrator in Brooklyn, has been relieved of his remaining duties in a letter delivered from Brooklyn's two new surrogates. In March, Mr. Rosenthal was barred from taking any new cases by Supreme Court Justice Albert Tomei, who took over as interim surrogate following the state Commission on Judicial Conduct's recommendation that Surrogate Michael H. Feinberg be removed. In June, the Court of Appeals removed Mr. Feinberg for having awarded excessive fees to Mr. Rosenthal, a friend and political ally. Justice Tomei, however, permitted Mr. Rosenthal to continue working on cases he was already handling. In the letter dated Feb. 3, Brooklyn's two new surrogates — Frank R. Seddio and Margarita Lopez Torres — ordered Mr. Rosenthal to return his files to Public Administrator Marietta Small. David Bookstaver, the court system's spokesman, said that "the two new surrogates, in making every effort to restore public confidence in the Brooklyn Surrogate's Court, are changing not only practices, but personnel as well." The public administrator is responsible for handling the property of those who die without wills or close relatives to wind up their affairs.
Powerful Judge Exposed by the News Is Now an Ex-judge The Associated Press ALBANY - A New York City judge has been kicked out of office for awarding millions of dollars in "unsubstantiated" fees to a law school friend, the state’s highest court said Wednesday. Kings County Surrogate Michael Feinberg’s "failure to abide by the legal requirements of his office, in a matter that conveyed the appearance of impropriety and favoritism, debased his office and eroded public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary," the state Court of Appeals said in a unanimous decision. In February, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended Feinberg be removed after finding he awarded "excessive and overly generous" fees to Louis R. Rosenthal, a longtime friend whom Feinberg appointed counsel to the public administrator of King’s County. From January 1997 to May 2002, Rosenthal received more than $2 million in excessive fees despite never filing any affidavit of legal services that would have supported the fee requests, the commission said. Feinberg and Rosenthal met while students at Brooklyn Law School in the 1960s and have remained friends. Rosenthal supported Feinberg’s campaign for the Surrogate’’s Court. Shortly after his election in 1996, the Democratic Feinberg then appointed Rosenthal to the counsel position. The commission said Feinberg’s misconduct was "aggravated by his lack of candor" during a hearing in the case. Feinberg argued that his conduct was an "innocent mistake" and amounted only to a legal error, not misconduct. He also denied favoritism, saying Rosenthal was appointed counsel because he had experience as a judge, federal prosecutor and practicing lawyer in Surrogate’s Court. There is no legal or ethical prohibition against appointing someone who also happens to be a friend, he said. Attempts to reach Feinberg were unsuccessful. His attorney, Henry Greenberg, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Feinberg had served as a
Surrogate judge since 1997, hearing cases involving wills and the
administration of estates. Surrogate Court and Family Court together
have jurisdiction in adoption proceedings. From 1991 to 1996
Feinberg was a Supreme Court justice in the second judicial district
and served as a New York City civil court judge from 1982 to 1990.
The court ruling bars Feinberg from holding judicial office in the
future.
NY Lawyers Spar Hard Over
Fate of
June 10, 2005 http://www.nylawyer.com/display.php/file=/news/05/06/061005a
Bench This Judge Pronto Editorial The state Court of Appeals tomorrow considers the removal from office of Brooklyn Surrogate Judge Michael Feinberg, a Democratic Party loyalist who allowed a lawyer pal to bilk $2 million from the estates of people who died without wills. Feinberg must go, but the court must pay close attention to when it lowers the ax. Feinberg's betrayal of trust has been well documented by the Commission on Judicial Conduct, which is seeking to have him fired. The Court of Appeals has two choices: summarily fire Feinberg - this week - or grind the wheels of justice for a couple of months. The court must put the case on a super fast or a super slow track because of the election calendar. If it were to decide the matter routinely, say, in a few weeks, Democratic boss and alleged felon Clarence Norman would choose the next surrogate. That must not happen. The timetable is rigged in Norman's favor. Lawyers who want to run for surrogate have until July 7 to collect the 12,000 signatures needed to get on the primary ballot. Every day Feinberg remains on the bench shortens the time to get signatures; candidates without Norman's backing have virtually no chance of pulling off the feat. Even worse, if the court dumps Feinberg between July 7 and Aug. 8, Norman and his cronies get to pick the candidate who will appear on the Democratic line, guaranteeing election. In the event of a decision after Aug. 8, Gov. Pataki would get to appoint an interim surrogate who would sit until an election in 2006. The best course for the court would be to toss Feinberg now, giving insurgents a fighting chance. Second best would be to wait until August, so Pataki got the pick. Worst of all would be to keep Norman's hold on a key judicial post that's abused as a patronage plum. NY Judge's Woes Reveal Court's Bizarre Business as Usual By John Caher Briefs filed at the Court of Appeals reveal significant factual discrepancies over what Surrogate Feinberg did and to what extent, if any, he overpaid Louis R. Rosenthal, the former counsel to the public administrator. They also reveal a bird's-eye view of questionable Surrogate's Court practices in Brooklyn that have apparently gone on for decades. To a large extent, the briefs deal with a fundamental issue of judicial discretion, and whether the Commission on Judicial Conduct should be second-guessing a judge's discretionary actions. But they also delve into simple arithmetic, and whether Surrogate Feinberg awarded anywhere near the "millions" in excess fees alleged by the commission. The commission claims Surrogate Feinberg ignored both the law and the bounds of propriety in enriching Mr. Rosenthal, and that the surrogate's behavior was so egregious that no discipline short of removal would send the right message to the judiciary and the public. But Surrogate Feinberg insists he did nothing other than follow longstanding Brooklyn practice in awarding the fees. And while he admits overlooking a "ministerial" chore in granting fee requests without mandatory affidavits, he claims the payments to Mr. Rosenthal were justifiable and only a fraction of the amount alleged by the commission. On June 9, the Court of Appeals will attempt to sort it all out when it hears Surrogate Feinberg's appeal of a commission determination that he should be ousted from the judiciary. The matter promises to be hotly contested on both a legal and factual basis, as the Court is called upon for a relatively rare exercise of its fact-finding power in a judicial misconduct case. The case centers largely on how lawyers who administer the estates of those who die without valid wills are paid in Brooklyn. Records show that in the borough, the counsel to the public administrator —— the office charged with managing intestate affairs —— has historically received as compensation a share of the estate. In the early 1970s, Surrogate Nathan Sobel began awarding then-counsel Hesterberg & Keller of Brooklyn a 7 percent share of the smaller estates and an 8 percent cut of those over $60,000. Surrogate Sobel's successor, Bernard M. Bloom, continued that practice, as did Surrogate Feinberg. Traditionally, attorneys were allowed to draw off the larger estates to make up for their meager earnings on the smaller estates —— a practice Surrogate Feinberg justified in his brief as the "Robin Hood effect." Hesterberg & Keller, which held the counsel position for about 40 years, was twice asked by the attorney general to reduce its fees to 6 percent. Under compromise agreements in 1988 and 1994, the firm agreed to restructure its fee requests. Typically, the firm would initially request 6 percent of the gross estate up to the time of the accounting, and then ask for another 2 percent through a Post-It note for work done between the accounting and the final decree. It routinely but not always got 8 percent, according to court records. When Surrogate Feinberg was elected in 1996, Hesterberg & Keller's procedures had been harshly criticized in a report by the New York City comptroller, according to court records. Surrogate Feinberg dismissed Hesterberg & Keller and gave the business to Mr. Rosenthal, a longtime friend from Brooklyn Law School. Surrogate Feinberg and Mr. Rosenthal celebrated holidays and family milestones together, served together on the bench when both were Civil Court judges and were political allies, records show. Between 1997 and 2002, Mr. Rosenthal handled hundreds of estates for Surrogate Feinberg. Like Hesterberg & Keller, Mr. Rosenthal normally requested 6 percent at the outset and then put in for the additional 2 percent on a Post-It note on the final decree. And, like Hesterberg & Keller, Mr. Rosenthal's requests were routinely approved. A potentially critical difference, however, is that Hesterberg & Keller was required by the court to submit the mandatory affidavits. Mr. Rosenthal, who collected roughly $8.6 million in fees, was not. List of Allegations The case against Surrogate Feinberg rests on several allegations. The commission contends that he: •• Fired the well-qualified firm of Hesterberg & Keller in order to give the work to Mr. Rosenthal, who, according to the commission, got a position for which he was unqualified because he and Surrogate Feinberg had been friends since the early 1960s. That, according to the commission, conveyed the impression that the surrogate was favoring a friend. •• Persistently violated the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act, which requires filing an affidavit of legal services justifying the appointment of counsel and fees to be paid. Mr. Rosenthal was never required to filed such an affidavit in the 5-1/2 years at issue and Surrogate Feinberg made no effort to determine if the work and billings were justified, according to the commission. •• Ignored the 6 percent cap negotiated by the attorney general and Surrogate Bloom as well as a 5 percent cap on estates over $300,000. •• Ultimately permitted Mr. Rosenthal to divert more than $2 million in excessive fees funds the court should have protected for the heirs or, where there were no heirs, the state. Distilled to their essence, there are basically two broad questions before the Court of Appeals. One deals with Surrogate Feinberg's practice in awarding fees; the other deals with the strongly disputed computation of the alleged overpayments to Mr. Rosenthal. On the first issue, the commission portrays Surrogate Feinberg as a judge who "unceremoniously and summarily" dropped Hesterberg & Keller to give a "plum appointment" to a friend and political ally, "with no search, no interview and no semblance of merit selection." Commission Administrator and Counsel Robert H. Tembeckjian, in a brief filed last week, dismisses as "preposterous" Surrogate Feinberg's argument that his award of an 8 percent flat fee was a legitimate exercise of judicial discretion. He suggests there was no exercise of discretion, just a rubber-stamp approval of whatever Mr. Rosenthal requested. "In petitioner's court, a simple calculator, not an independent judge, was all that was necessary to dispense millions of dollars," Mr. Tembeckjian argues. Mr. Tembeckjian also suggests that Surrogate Feinberg's awarding of those fees without the required affidavit effectively concealed his generosity and made it difficult for the attorney general, which is served with all estate fee requests, to fulfill its watchdog role. "Petitioner's argument that the affidavit requirement is 'ministerial' completely misses the point," Mr. Tembeckjian said. "Without affidavits, there would be no reliable way to determine what legal work Counsel had done and whether a fee was earned or deserved. . . . That the Attorney General did not put a stop to it may be explained by the limited nature of the Attorney General's role in these estates, and the manner in which the records were sent to the Attorney General by Rosenthal." Amount of Fees The commission's allegation that Mr. Rosenthal collected about $2 million more than he was due is based on the charge that Mr. Rosenthal received an 8 percent commission on all 475 cases at issue. Repeatedly, the commission which split 6-3 in deciding Surrogate Feinberg should be removed rather than censured referred to the "millions" it contends were wrongly paid to Mr. Rosenthal as justification for the surrogate's removal. Since then, however, the attorney general has sent a letter to Mr. Rosenthal stating that "we are not adopting the $2 million figure that appeared in the [Commission on Judicial Conduct] Opinion" and instead are willing to settle for restitution of $729,800. After the Law Journal reported on that letter (NYLJ, May 18), the attorney general's press aide wrote a letter to the newspaper (NYLJ, May 20) explaining that the figure cited in the letter was based on some "subset" and was not necessarily reflective of the entire alleged overpayment. Mr. Tembeckjian stands by his calculation, but says in his brief that the exact amount of the alleged overpayment is not the heart of the issue despite the commission's emphasis on the $2 million figure in its call for removal. "Any judge who would dispense millions of dollars in funds entrusted to the court, without regard to explicit statutory criteria and on the basis of Post-It notes in lieu of affidavits, is guilty of egregious misconduct and should be removed from office, without regard to whether the total overpayment to a particular person was $2 million or $1 million or half a million," Mr. Tembeckjian wrote. Surrogate Feinberg's attorney, Henry M. Greenberg of Greenberg Traurig, counters that the amount is vitally important, especially since the commission seemingly relied on what he contends is a wildly inflated number in calling for the judge's removal. Mr. Greenberg suggests that Mr. Tembeckjian is guilty of the same offense he accuses Surrogate Feinberg of: making a judgment on the propriety of fees without any determination of whether they were justified in any particular case. "Not once was a question raised about the Counsel's fees by the New York State Attorney General, whose office knew precisely how much Surrogate Feinberg awarded in every case," Mr. Greenberg wrote in his brief. "Not once was a complaint uttered by the New York City comptroller, whose office twice issued audit reports on the operations of the Kings County [public administrator]." According to Mr. Greenberg, the commission's assumption that Mr. Rosenthal collected an 8 percent commission in all 475 cases is factually and demonstrably wrong. Mr. Greenberg notes that during the early years, Mr. Rosenthal split his fee with Hesterberg & Keller. Also, Mr. Greenberg contends, an 8 percent commission was not awarded in all cases. And, the attorney claims, after the Administrative Board of the Courts in October 2002 adopted a sliding fee scale for Surrogate's Court matters —— before Surrogate Feinberg was targeted by the commission Surrogate Feinberg applied that new scale not only prospectively, but retroactively. The attorney said Surrogate Feinberg recognizes he erred in failing to demand affidavits of legal service and regrets what amounts to oversight but not misconduct. Additionally, Mr. Greenberg accused the commission of attempting to "destroy" the "distinguished career" of a judge because it thinks 8 percent is excessive, notwithstanding the fact that "no statute, court rule, regulation or appellate decision precluded an 8 percent fee." He added that since Surrogate Feinberg indisputably had the discretion to award higher fees in appropriate cases, it is not up to the commission to decide if those fees were appropriate. Spitzer, Commission
Split on How By John Caher ALBANY In a break
with the Commission on Judicial Conduct, the New York Attorney
General's Office has found that the allegedly excessive fees awarded
by suspended Brooklyn Surrogate Michael H. Feinberg, leading to
misconduct charges and calls for his removal, were far less than the
commission's $2 million estimate. Throughout New York City
with the exception of Brooklyn estate administrators
historically received a 6 percent share as their fee. But in
Brooklyn, administrators got 8 percent until accords in 1988 and
1994 between officials in that borough and the attorney general.
Under the agreements between the attorney general and the
predecessors of Judge Feinberg and Mr. Rosenthal, Brooklyn was to
adhere to the same 6 percent ceiling recognized in the rest of the
city. NY Judge
Who Awarded Friend By Tom Perrotta Supreme Court Justice Albert Tomei was appointed interim Brooklyn surrogate yesterday, two weeks after the state Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended that the current surrogate, Michael H. Feinberg, be removed for awarding $2 million in excessive legal fees to a friend. The Office of Court Administration described the move as an effort to promote confidence in the Surrogate's Court, which has been under scrutiny for several years because of fees awarded by Surrogate Feinberg. Justice Tomei "is widely respected and admired for his integrity and his judicial scholarship," Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman said yesterday. According to the conduct commission, Surrogate Feinberg's "largess" enriched Louis R. Rosenthal, the counsel to the public administrator in Brooklyn, with fees that went beyond acceptable ranges and that at times should not have been permitted at all. Mr. Rosenthal and Surrogate Feinberg have been friends since the 1960s, and Mr. Rosenthal has been one of his political supporters. He and the public administrator, Marietta Small, were appointed by Surrogate Feinberg. From January 1997 to May 2002, the surrogate awarded Mr. Rosenthal 8 percent of the estates he represented for deceased persons without wills. The fees were two percentage points higher than those allowed by surrogates in other boroughs. The premium netted Mr. Rosenthal $2 million more in fees, for a total of $9 million, the commission found. The commission also said Mr. Rosenthal received fees for real estate deals and referrals to other attorneys that were not awarded in other boroughs. Surrogate Feinberg, who has been suspended with pay, is appealing his sanction to the Court of Appeals. Judge Lippman said yesterday that Surrogate Feinberg's case might not be argued until next fall. If he is eventually removed, Governor George E. Pataki would appoint an interim surrogate until the next election. Justice Tomei, 65, said his first act was to inform Mr. Rosenthal that he would not be receiving any more Surrogate's Court cases, though he would be allowed to stay on the 300 to 400 cases already assigned to him. "My overarching goal is to make sure that the interests of those who come before the Surrogate's Court are protected," Justice Tomei said. "Clearly with the recent events there has been a shortfall in public confidence." Mr. Rosenthal did not return a call seeking comment. Justice Tomei has spent the bulk of his career in Criminal Court and has little experience in the intricate matters of Surrogate's Court. Judge Lippman, however, said his talents and work ethic were more important than experience. "B'klyn Sandal Lawyer Gets Ax" By Nancie L. Katz New York Daily News March 2, 2005 Exclusive - A veteran judge was tapped yesterday to take over as acting Brooklyn surrogate - and he promptly fired the lawyer at the center of the corruption scandal that rocked the court. State Supreme Court Justice Albert Tomei replaces Judge Michael Feinberg, who was suspended from the surrogate's bench last week. Feinberg was ousted on the recommendation of the state Commission on Judicial Conduct. The commission confirmed a Daily News investigation that found Feinberg regularly approved excessive fees for pal Louis Rosenthal, whom he appointed in 1997 to help handle the estates of Brooklynites who died without leaving wills. Tomei, a Democrat whose niece is actress Marisa Tomei, said his first move was to meet with Rosenthal, Feinberg's former law school classmate. "I informed him that ... he would not be getting any more future assignments," Albert Tomei said. As for cases Rosenthal is already handling, Tomei said, "He'll maintain those he has and we'll scrutinize them." The commission found Feinberg routinely allowed Rosenthal to bill estates for exorbitant legal fees without filing legally required documents explaining what he did to earn them. Tomei, a judge for nearly three decades, was named acting surrogate by state Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman. Lippman said he was trying "to promote public confidence" in the battered Brooklyn courts, where two judges have been charged in bribery cases and state and federal prosecutors continue to probe other allegations of wrongdoing. Feinberg has appealed to the state Court of Appeals in Albany in an attempt to save his job. If the court rules against him, the surrogate's post will be permanently filled in a November election. Scandal-plagued Brooklyn Judge Benched Zach Haberman Brooklyn Judge Michael Feinberg was ordered off the bench yesterday by the state's highest court. The Surrogate Court judge, long accused of rewarding political pals with lucrative court appointments, was suspended by the Court of Appeals. The judges said the suspension will be in effect pending "disposition of his request for review . . . by the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct." Feinberg had appointed a lawyer named Louis Rosenthal guardian of estates of several people who died without leaving wills. The 61-year-old judge is accused of allowing Rosenthal to collect $2 million more from the estates that he was entitled to. Rosenthal was permited by law to award himself up to 6 percent of an estate, but Feinberg allegedly would allow him to take up to 8 percent. Embattled Judge Begs for Mercy Nancie L. Katz An embattled Brooklyn judge has asked New York's highest court not to suspend him while he appeals a recommendation to boot him from the bench. On Monday, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct called for the ouster of Brooklyn Surrogate Judge Michael Feinberg, who routinely approved excessive fees given to a lawyer pal. In a letter to the Court of Appeals, Feinberg challenged the commission's findings, which backed a Daily News probe that found he gave oversize estate fees to his buddy Louis Rosenthal. Rosenthal was the counsel to the public administrator who handles the assets of Brooklyn residents who die without a will. "There is not and never has been the slightest intimation that anything he has been charged with involved corruption or venality," Feinberg's lawyer, Harvey Greenberg, wrote the appeals court. "It is clear that [Feinberg] has mended his ways." State
Commission Seeking By Leslie Eaton February 15, 2005 In the latest development in Brooklyn's long-running judicial scandals, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct announced yesterday that it was seeking the removal of the Kings County surrogate judge, contending that he improperly awarded millions of dollars in fees to a longtime friend. The commission found that the judge, Michael H. Feinberg, appointed a neighborhood friend and law school classmate, Louis R. Rosenthal, to handle the legal matters of people who died without wills. He then rubber-stamped Mr. Rosenthal's fee requests of $9 million, including $2 million that the commission called "excessive." Judge Feinberg will ask the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, to review the commission's decision, said his lawyer, Harvey L. Greenberg, who declined to comment further. Mr. Rosenthal did not respond to telephone calls made to his office. The commission did not find that the judge had received money from Mr. Rosenthal, although as an ethics commission it does not conduct criminal investigations, its executive director, Robert H. Tembeckjian, said. He would not comment further on the substance of the case, citing the Court of Appeals review. The court could decide as early as the end of the week whether to suspend the judge pending its review, as it has done frequently when the commission calls for someone's removal from the bench. A decision on whether to remove him permanently is unlikely before September, said Gary Spencer, a spokesman for the court. Surrogates' courts are a somewhat obscure branch of the judicial system that handle wills and estates, a branch that has become infamous because of some judges' clubby habits of awarding huge fees to politically connected lawyers. The possibilities for patronage have helped make the surrogates' elections important to political parties, if not to voters. With support from Mr. Rosenthal, Judge Feinberg was elected in 1996 after a bitter Democratic primary battle in which the contestants spent $1 million, a battle that solidified the power of his chief backer, Clarence Norman Jr., the Brooklyn party leader. The party's control over judicial positions in Brooklyn has come under scrutiny because of a series of scandals over judges it has backed. In recent years, one State Supreme Court justice there has been sentenced to prison for taking a bribe, another was removed from the bench for financial improprieties, and a third, Gerald P. Garson, has been charged with receiving bribes in divorce cases; he has pleaded not guilty. The Brooklyn Surrogate's Court has been the focus of investigative articles by The Daily News and has been investigated by the state comptroller, Alan G. Hevesi, and by the attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, whose investigation is continuing, according to a spokeswoman. A special commission appointed by the state's chief judge, Judith S. Kaye, recommended a number of reforms last week dealing in particular with the lawyers hired to handle the estates of people who die without wills or heirs, a position known as the counsel to the public administrator. That is the position held by Mr. Rosenthal, who like Judge Feinberg had been active in the Democratic Party and has also served as a judge, though he is now in private practice. According to the commission's decision, his father was the public administrator in Brooklyn from 1958 to 1964, though only about 5 percent of his own legal practice concerned surrogates litigation. Judge Feinberg appointed Mr. Rosenthal shortly after he became surrogate, and began to award him legal fees for handling estates without requiring documentation about the time and effort he put in. The judge also routinely approved legal fees equal to 8 percent of the value of the estate in question, despite the fact that fees are supposed to be limited to 6 percent except in exceptional circumstances. In one case described in the commission's decision, that of Joseph Osservio Petit, Mr. Rosenthal received a $16,000 fee while Mr. Petit's two sons received less than $6,000 apiece, according to documents filed with the commission. Although six of the commission's members voted to remove Judge Feinberg, three said they thought he should merely be censured. One of those three, Lawrence S. Goldman, who is chairman of the commission, wrote in a dissent that his colleagues should have considered, as a mitigating circumstance, that the judge believed 8 percent fees were a longstanding practice in Brooklyn. Even so, he wrote, "a system in which a judge appoints a friend to a public legal position, solely determines the friend's compensation, and the compensation is hundreds of thousands of dollars per year - several times the salary, for instance, of the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals - is anachronistic and cries out for review, if not reform." Bench Judge: Panel By Zach Haberman and Dareh
Gregorian
Surrogate Court Judge Michael Feinberg "irredeemably damaged public confidence in the integrity of his court" and "engaged in misconduct that cannot be countenanced," the state Commission on Judicial Conduct found in a decision made public yesterday. "A public sanction less
than removal for such egre- MICHEL FEINBERG
The commission recommended the removal after finding Feinberg, 61, had awarded "excessive and overly generous" fees more than $2 million to longtime friend and former judge, Louis Rosenthal. The action comes seven years after The Post first reported that Feinberg was rewarding political pals with lucrative court appointments. Rosenthal had worked on and given money to Feinberg's campaign, The Post reported. After getting that donation, Feinberg appointed Rosenthal as counsel to the public administrator, a post that does legal work for estates of people who died without wills or heirs. As counsel, Rosenthal was legally entitled to collect up to 6 percent of the gross value of a person's estate, but the commission found Feinberg routinely allowed Rosenthal to collect 8 percent. "These excessive fees came from the pockets of beneficiaries of estates that [Feinberg] had a duty to protect," said the report, which also blasted his "incredible, evasive and unreliable" testimony before the commission last year. Feinberg maintained he wasn't familiar with the rules over Rosenthal's pay because he'd just "skimmed" the judicial guidelines. The commission called his account "unconvincing and, if true, inexcusable." Feinberg's lawyer refused comment. Neither Feinberg nor Rosenthal has been charged criminally and the Brooklyn DA\'s office refused comment.
Surrogate Feinberg committed "a gross dereliction of his duties" in routinely awarding fees valued at 8 percent of the estates of those who died without wills to Louis R. Rosenthal, the counsel to the public administrator in Brooklyn, the commission found by an 8-1 vote. On the issue of the appropriate sanction, six of the commission's 11 members voted for removal, while three voted for censure. The decision can be found on the commission's Web site, www.scjc.state.ny.us. Surrogate Feinberg's lawyer, Harvey L. Greenberg, said the ruling will be appealed to the Court of Appeals. The Court has asked both sides for submissions by noon Thursday on whether Surrogate Feinberg should be suspended with or without pay while the case is pending final resolution, said Court of Appeals spokesman Gary Spencer. A ruling on suspension could come as early as Thursday. If the Court suspends Surrogate Feinberg, Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman would name a replacement to serve until the appeal is decided, said Office of Court Administration spokesman David Bookstaver. It is not likely the Court will issue a final decision in time for an election to be held this year, should Surrogate Feinberg's removal be upheld, experts said. Unless the Court rules before Aug. 8, a replacement election would not be scheduled until November 2006. In any event, should the Court uphold removal, Governor George E. Pataki would name an interim successor. In hundreds of cases handled by Mr. Rosenthal in the six years since Surrogate Feinberg took office in 1997, the commission found, the judge routinely approved fee awards of 8 percent, two percentage points higher than the ceiling allowed by surrogates elsewhere in New York City. It is also two percentage points higher than permitted under an agreement worked out in 1988, and then renewed in 1994, between Surrogate Feinberg's predecessor, Surrogate Bernard Bloom, and the state Attorney General's Office. The additional 2 percentage points produced $2 million in fees for Mr. Rosenthal over and above the $7 million he would have earned had the 6 percent ceiling been applied, the panel found. In all, Mr. Rosenthal was awarded $9 million for work done from January 1997 until May 2002, when Surrogate Feinberg discontinued using the 8 percent figure after the practice was disclosed in the Daily News. Surrogate Feinberg's "largess" in granting fee awards to Mr. Rosenthal, the majority noted, came "from the pockets of the beneficiaries of estates" that Surrogate Feinberg "had a duty to protect." Also, the commission found that Mr. Rosenthal received additional fees when he closed real estate deals for estates and referred wrongful death cases to other attorneys. In one instance, the panel noted, Mr. Rosenthal received $33,000 for the referral of a wrongful death suit. Those types of compensation were not permitted to be paid to public administrators' counsel in other boroughs, the majority found. The Attorney General's Office yesterday confirmed it is conducting an investigation. A source familiar with the investigation said that the commission's finding that Mr. Rosenthal had been paid $2 million more than he should have would likely inform any demand for recovery. Mr. Rosenthal was not available for comment yesterday, and Marietta Small, the Brooklyn public administrator, declined to comment through a spokesperson. Each county has a public administrator who is responsible for handling the estates of individuals who die without a will and have no close family member to wind up their affairs. Oust Judge in Fee Flap: Watchdog By Nancie L. Katz The state's top judicial watchdog recommended yesterday booting a Brooklyn judge who routinely approved excessive fees to a lawyer pal. In a scathing report, the Commission on Judicial Conduct said Brooklyn Surrogate Judge Michael Feinberg effectively deprived the heirs of Brooklyn residents who died without wills of $2 million. The money was diverted to Louis Rosenthal, the counsel for Public Administrator Marietta Small, in the form of sky-high fees, said the panel. A Daily News probe revealed the arrangement between Feinberg and Rosenthal. Feinberg could be suspended by the state's highest court as early as Friday pending an appeal. Rosenthal, a former law school buddy appointed by Feinberg, raked in about $9 million in legal fees between January 1997 and May 2002. The panel found that at least $2 million of that was excessive, and also found that Rosenthal never filed the required documents showing what he did to earn his fee. "For a surrogate, entrusted with enormous power over the lives and fortunes of many, the ethical transgressions revealed ... are simply intolerable," it said. "A public sanction less than removal for such egregious conduct would be wholly inadequate." The commission noted its two-year inquiry was sparked by a 2002 News' exposéé that found Feinberg routinely gave Rosenthal 8% or more of an estate's worth. That was despite a 6% cap Feinberg's predecessors had agreed to under pressure from the state attorney general's office. It said Feinberg's excuse that he was unaware of the limits as "not credible ... and evasive." The commission's findings could shape how much Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who is conducting a separate probe, would demand Rosenthal pay back. Neither Feinberg, his lawyer nor Rosenthal returned calls yesterday. Rosenthal's lawyer declined to comment. Surrogate Feinberg, RIP Editorial Feinberg's unfitness for office has been clear since Daily News reporters Larry Cohler-Esses and Nancie Katz disclosed in 2002 that he had allowed lawyer Louis Rosenthal to charge exorbitant fees for overseeing the estates of Brooklynites who died without wills. The commission tallied the ripoff at $2 million. For clubhouse pols, being named surrogate is like dying and going to patronage heaven. Surrogates preside over the disposition of estates and get to hand out thousands of assignments to lawyers. Feinberg did such a favor for Rosenthal, with whom he's been chummy since law school, and then let him take 8% out of estates, rather than the 6% legal max - without even filing the required paperwork. According to the commission, Feinberg defended himself by pleading ignorance of the law (which should be a firing offense) and was otherwise "incredible, evasive and unreliable." Which means the Court of Appeals should also render him unemployed. NY Lawyers'
Appointments as By Daniel Wise Sunshine is the best antidote to counter the "great concern" that "politically connected lawyers" are reaping hundreds of thousands of dollars to handle estates of those who die without wills, a blue-ribbon commission appointed by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye said in a report issued Monday. The 14-member commission, headed by Sheila Birnbaum of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, also called for legislation that would make mandatory existing guidelines for compensating counsel to public administrators. The administrators have overall responsibility for winding down the affairs of those who die without wills. The spur to the commission's recommendations was a disciplinary proceeding against Brooklyn Surrogate Michael H. Feinberg for routinely awarding the counsel to the Brooklyn public administrator, Louis R. Rosenthal, fees that equalled 8 percent of the estates he handled, an amount 2 higher than the ceiling in the guidelines. The Commission on Fiduciary Appointments also noted that several surrogates had "candidly admitted to political and personal ties with appointees they had selected." That testimony "gives rise to a public perception of an opaque system that operates on the basis of connections and cronyism," the report said. Oral argument in the state Commission on Judicial Conduct case against Surrogate Feinberg took place in September (NYLJ, Sept. 24), and a decision is pending. The judicial conduct commission also charged Surrogate Feinberg with approving Mr. Rosenthal's fees without required documentation. The Birnbaum commission also proposed remedies for a problem that surfaced since its first report was issued in December 2001. In April 2004, a Queens grand jury reported on its investigation into systemic weaknesses that allowed a guardian to steal $272,000 from his ward. The grand jury found a key problem was a lack of oversight of the guardian, lawyer Robert B. Kress, who has been disbarred. The remedy proposed by the Birnbaum commission was greater supervision of court examiners, who are appointed by judges to oversee the work of guardians. Judges are also responsible for appointing guardians to handle the affairs of persons unable to care for themselves. As a result of the Birnbaum commission's earlier report, any fiduciary appointed by a judge was barred from receiving additional appointments for a year after earning $50,000 within a 12- month period. State and county leaders also were prohibited from accepting appointments as were members of their law firms.
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EXCLUSIVE- A
mortgage lender who tried to buy an elderly Brooklyn woman's home on
the cheap while she was alive is set to walk away with $85,000 of
her money now that she's dead, thanks to a sweetheart deal with the
embattled Public Administrator's Office, court papers allege.
A Brooklyn judge who lined
his buddy's pockets with millions in dead people's money should be
booted from the bench, a state disciplinary panel has ruled.
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A Feast
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