Attorneys Ordered to Repay Legal Costs

A state Superior Court judge has ordered lawyers for Revlon Chairman Ronald Perelman to reimburse nearly $2 million in fees that his former father-in-law and brother-in-law paid to defend themselves against a lawsuit Perelman filed over his daughter's inheritance.

The lawsuit, which Superior Court Judge Ellen Koblitz dismissed last year, claimed that Perelman's daughter, Samantha, was entitled to half of the fortune amassed by her grandfather — Robert Cohen of Englewood, the 85-year-old founder of the Hudson News chain.

Perelman, who is appealing, was married to Cohen's only daughter, the socialite and gossip columnist Claudia Cohen, from 1985 until their divorce in 1994. Samantha was born in 1990. Claudia Cohen died in 2007 of ovarian cancer.

Perelman's suit, which he filed in his capacity as executor of his former wife's estate, claimed that Robert Cohen made an oral promise to his only daughter in the 1970s to leave half of the family fortune to her even though he had three children living at the time. Claudia's brother, James, also was named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Koblitz ruled Perelman's suit was frivolous because no documents were provided to back up that claim.

The lawsuit also alleged that Robert Cohen, who suffers from a Parkinson's-like condition called progressive supranuclear palsy, should be declared legally incapacitated and, therefore, not capable of deciding how to divide his fortune among his heirs. The suit further claimed that James Cohen had taken advantage of his condition, persuading his father to leave him a greater share of his estate.

Full Article and Source:
Attorneys for Ron Perelman Ordered to Repay Legal Costs

See Also:
Family Feud May Test Boundaries of Inheritance Law