Son Sues Mom to Make Good on Debt |
Thursday, October 08 2015 |
A Long Island, New York, man sued and won his case against his mother for withholding a $5,000 gift that his grandmother promised for his bar mitzvah. Jordan Zeidman said his maternal grandmother, Rachel Steinfeld, whom he calls "Baba," promised him at his 2007 bar mitzvah that she was giving him $5,000, as she had done for his brother and sister. Steinfeld had crashed the party with her daughter — Jordan’s mom, Shirley Zeidman, who split from her ex in a bitter divorce and was squeezed out of the festivities. According to news reports, Zeidman testified in Nassau County Small Claims Court that Steinfeld told him about the gift inside the synagogue as his mom stood nearby. "'And I'm going to give it to your mom to hold for you,'" Zeidman recalled. Zeidman claims his mother never delivered the dough, despite a document with a handwritten note saying, "I owe Jordan $190 + $5,000 from Baba." Zeidman countered that she didn't recall writing the statement, but agreed "it could be" her handwriting. Nassau District Court Judge Scott Fairgrieve found Shirley Zeidman liable for both conversion and unjust enrichment, awarding Jordan Zeidman a judgment for the $5,000 that his mom “held for [his] benefit and continues to hold, in violation of her fiduciary duty.” Shirley Zeidman's lawyer, Jeffrey Schecter, said Fairgrieve’s ruling wasn’t supported by the evidence, and he will likely appeal. —Source: nypost.com
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