One Man's Legal Bills:

$329,000

 

By THOMAS ZAMBITO

Daily News Staff Writer

 

Aron Katz lived alone in a roach-infested apartment in Chelsea, with an oven that didn't work and stacks of Jewish newspapers piled to the ceiling. He took meals at a homeless kitchen and handouts from the local bakery.

 

He got by on Social Security, a small union pension and $400 a month from the German government, reparations for having watched his parents and siblings doused with gasoline and burned to death by the Nazis during World War II.

 

Two years ago, at the request of a cousin, a judge declared Katz incapacitated and appointed a temporary legal guardian to oversee his medical care and pay his bills.

 

To everyone's surprise, Katz, who is now 83, had a small fortune. Somehow, the long-time garment industry tailor had more than $900,000 in savings and stocks.

 

Then the lawyers showed up.

 

In the two years since Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Robert Lippmann appointed a guardian for Katz, attorneys have claimed more than a third of his money — $329,000 — to pay their legal fees.

 

"He didn't know his money was being frittered away on legal fees like this," said attorney Elliot Pasik, who represented a Katz friend who unsuccessfully petitioned the court to become the elderly man's guardian. "This was a disaster."

 

In Katz's case, legal expenses were related to the dispute involving his friend about who should serve as his guardian.

 

The fees added up. Katz's temporary court-appointed guardian, attorney Leona Beane, received $106,000 for less than a year's work before asking to be removed.

 

In addition, former criminal court judge Jerome Hornblass got $66,225 for his work as Katz's attorney.

 

Margaret Bomba, one of the city's leading guardianship attorneys, collected $85,000 for representing Barry Konner, a Katz cousin who petitioned the court to appoint a guardian for Katz. And the law firm of Abrams Fensterman Fensterman and Flowers received $72,000 for representing Randy Settenbrino, the friend of Katz who wanted to be his guardian.

 

Settenbrino befriended Katz a decade ago when the retired tailor stopped by Settenbrino's Eighth Ave. clothing shop and struck up a conversation.

 

Despite the 40-year difference in their ages, the two Orthodox Jews became close. The impish Katz spent many afternoons in Settenbrino's Moda Moda shop regaling customers with his Yiddish wit. Settenbrino's attempt to be named guardian was vigorously opposed by Katz's cousin and other attorneys in the case.

 

Beane, who accused Settenbrino of being a gold digger, pointed to a February 1999 will drafted by Settenbrino's sister, lawyer Susan Schwartz, while Katz was recovering from a broken nose and leg suffered when a car hit him on his way to his W. 23rd St. synagogue. The will, which was later voided, named Settenbrino as Katz's executor and sole heir.

 

In September 1999, according to court documents, he and Katz visited several of Katz's banks attempting to withdraw his savings. Katz signed a medical document giving Settenbrino the right to make his medical decisions.

 

Settenbrino said he stepped in because Katz begged him to do it.

 

"I'm the closest thing he had to a son," said Settenbrino, who also noted that he named his first child after Katz's father.

 

But Beane and the others did not believe Settenbrino had become his surrogate family.

 

Judge Lippmann, who refused to comment on the case, seemed to agree.

 

In the end, Settenbrino agreed to drop his claims to be Katz's guardian. His attorney, Howard Fensterman, said Settenbrino didn't want to see the estate depleted any more than it had been. But the acrimony continued even after the settlement as attorneys traded accusations about the size of each other's fees.

 

Bomba said the real culprit here is the system created by the Legislature in 1992. The passage of Article 81 of the Mental Hygiene Law was supposed to create greater protections for people such as Katz. But she believes legislative reforms have forced attorneys to become adversaries, often battling over inheritance issues during guardianship cases like Katz's.

 

"This was the worst, worst, worst guardianship proceeding I have ever encountered," Beane said. The contentious litigation, she said, caused lawyers to dispute simple issues and fees to grow. She now believes such cases would be better handled by an outside mediator.

 

"I don't think litigation works," she said. "I hope I never have another case like this." All this seems to have been lost on Katz, who was diagnosed with dementia. He now has around-the-clock home care.

 

His apartment is immaculate, the stacks of The Jewish Forward and The Algemeiner Journal are gone. On the wall are an odd collection of old paintings and photographs Katz picked up over the years. Sitting in a lounge chair one recent evening, he sipped iced tea while watching a videotape of Settenbrino's wedding. A purple yarmulke kept falling off his head.

 

Despite his sketchy grasp of what's going on around him, he can recite by rote the age-old Jewish sayings he used to share with customers during afternoons in Settenbrino's store.

 

"If you are healthy," he said, a confident smile crossing his face, "you are the big boss."

 

How Legal Fees Added Up

 

Here are the legal fees that Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Robert Lippmann awarded to attorneys involved in Aron Katz's guardianship proceedings.

 

Katz had $900,000 in assets before the bills were submitted.

 

Leona Beane, temporary guardian and court evaluator: $106,000

Margaret Bomba, attorney for Katz's cousin, Barry Konner: $85,000

Abrams Fensterman Fensterman and Flowers, attorneys for Katz friend Randy Settenbrino: $72,000

Former criminal court judge Jerome Hornblass, Katz's attorney: $66,225

 

 

 

 

Original Publication Date: 5/20/01