Posted on 01/17/2007 8:50:22 AM PST by Nachum
American Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld was ordered by the court to pay a Sabbath-observant realtor her fee, which he withheld due to her not having answered her phone on Saturday.
The realtor, Tamara Cohen, was unavailable when Seinfeld tried to reach her on a Saturday in February, 2005, according to the New York Post. The comedian and star of the highly successful sitcom bearing his name wanted to see a luxury apartment on 82nd street but could not get in touch with Cohen.
Seinfeld’s estate manager had visited the apartment with Cohen in January 2005, when the listing broker for the townhouse agreed to co-broke the house with her. On Friday, February 11, the estate manager and Seinfeld’s wife Jessica were shown the property by Cohen again. The next day, after Cohen did not answer her cell phone due to it being the Sabbath, the Seinfelds visited the apartment on their own, buying the home for $3.95 million without a broker.
Seinfeld testified that Cohen did not deserve the payment as she had been unavailable when he and his wife wanted to see the home. Both Seinfelds said they had not known the reason Cohen did not return their calls was that she was a Sabbath-observant Jew.
New York State Supreme Court justice Rolando Acosta ruled that the Seinfelds must pay Cohen at least $98,000 for her role as co-broker – a ruling that is seen as a positive defense of religious worship for Sabbath observers.
Acosta said that notwithstanding Cohen's failure to immediately return the Seinfelds' calls, "[T]he evidence clearly indicates that she served as the Seinfelds' real estate broker."
"The only real issue here . . . is whether the broker's fee was 5 or 6 percent," Acosta said, meaning Cohen may get as much as $118,500.
Richard Menaker of Menaker & Hermann, the law firm that represented the Seinfelds, said he intends to move to re-argue. "Not a single one of the [six] arguments we made was addressed," Menaker said, according to Law.com. "At the oral argument I pointed out that Ms. Cohen is not licensed. You can only recover on an oral agreement if you're a licensed real-estate broker," he added. Cohen’s lawyer said that she is in fact licensed and that the court apparently agreed.
Get out!
Not answering the phone on the Sabbath?
What's that all about?
Ooohhhhhhhh...that's a shame.
She had shown it to them twice.
If he didn't want to pay a broker's fee, he shouldn't have wasted the broker's time.
Seinfield is such a jerk! Wow!
It's just, I suppose. A deal is a deal.
But she needs a goy partner/employee to take care of her Saturdays, just because the customer is always right --- and real estate is bought on the weekend.
She could probably find an observant Christian for whom she can trade-off by covering on Sunday.
It's what all the doctors (esp OBs) do.
It's work. No work on Sabbath.
Cohen showed him the property...Gees...Jerry, pay her her comission!
The bad publicity alone as a cheapskate is bad.
Bingo. Times 2 on ignoring the mitzvot.
Take the North Bergen, NJ "blue laws" about not doing work on Sunday, amplify it a bit and apply it to Saturday instead, and you're in the ballpark.
If you are parked in Borough Park, Brooklyn on a Saturday morning and you go out for a drive, you're spot will still be there later as long as you are back by sundown.
A Jew doesnt know Jewish tradition?
Wait! I take back my comment aobut Jerry.
I bet it is HIS broker that doesn't want to share the commission!!!!!
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Well, I'd call Seinfield a cheapskate for at least two reasons.
1) If you first see a house with a realtor, you have a legal commitment to pay that realtor a fee, no matter how many times you go back. Sabbath or no sabbath, that's the rule. It wouldn't really matter why she couldn't answer her cell phone.
2) Maybe he didn't know why she didn't answer the cell phone on that Saturday, but he certainly must have been told before it went to court.
So in addition to being a cheapskate, he also displayed contempt for her religion. Why are rich people always skinflints? When I was a boy, I was told that's why they're rich.
This begs the question: When did it become acceptable to expect everyone to be at your beck and call every hour of the day or they don't get paid?
Neither one of the Seinfelds is much on keeping contracts, apparently. Remember, Jessica dumped her first husband for Jerry, and she was just back from her honeymoon when she did it!
You can't hire people to do work either.
Thought he was dealing with Tim Whatley...
No kidding. As a Realtor myself, c'mon, when you're not available, DELEGATE
It's not like he wasn't notified about the custom eh?!
Maybe Seinfeld purposely did this to try to avoid paying her. Maybe he did know she was an observant Jew. Don't you think this woman would have told him (if she didn't she's an idiot) or any client since most people will look on a Saturday? And why did Seinfeld feel the urgent need to go see the place again? He couldn't have waited a day? Something isn't kosher about how this went down.
Bingo. If she had just been out of town for the day or otherwise unavailable, he would have had no argument that he didn't owe the commission. She had shown them the apartment.
 hg |
| a ruling that is seen as a positive defense of religious worship for Sabbath observers Well, I don't know about that. I think it's more a case of the agent showing the property to Seinfeld's estate manager, then showing it again a few days later to this same estate manager and Seinfeld's wife. |
Jerry's just gathering material for next season's episodes.
He probably makes $98,000 a day in royalties.
Seinfeld should have hired "Jackie Chiles" to represent him ;)
I never liked Seinfeld.
>>Not answering the phone on the Sabbath?
What's that all about?<<
This isn't about the Sabbath.
What if a real estate agent was in the ER with a child and forgot their phone. What if their battery died, what if...
If either the buyer or seller has a signed agency contract with a broker, and the broker shows the property, they are entitled to the commission barring ineptitude or corruption or other "extraordinary" circumstances.
The owner and Seinfeld were basically trying to perform a commissiondectomy - a common practice as dollar amounts increase.
If there was a written acency contract, this was an open and shut case, and Seinfelds excuse was lame.
This has NOTHING to do with the REASON the agent was not available.
However,if it *wasn't* spelled out in the contract then I think Seinfeld was justified in expecting her to try to accede to his wishes regarding a Saturday showing.
How would she even be aware of his wishes?
This may be but at least he did not go off into an expletive ridden tirade like Richards his old co star did in November.
Well, that's why it needs to be a partner.
You trade off, and it will even out.
"This begs the question: When did it become acceptable to expect everyone to be at your beck and call every hour of the day or they don't get paid?"
Actually, this is what the ruling should have been based upon. As it stands, it is setting a very dangerous precedent.
Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it.
"A Jew doesnt know Jewish tradition?"
Well, Nancy Pelosi claims to be an observant Roman Catholic, and yet supports abortion, gay marriage, and general hedonism and sin.
Your point? :)
Jerry belongs to the synagogue of haSatan.
b'shem Yah'shua
You spell it out at the very beginning.The agent informs the prospective client that he/she doesn't work on Saturday. The client either agrees to this stipulation or he doesn't.
If he doesn't they try to reach a compromise or the client goes elsewhere.I *am* surprised,however,by a real estate agent refusing to work on either a Saturday or a Sunday given that these two days are the ones that buyers are most likely to utilize for viewing properties.
Sorry - never really been a fan of Seinfeld, I was just making fun of his throwing topics out there, and then saying "What's that all about?"
I remember Joe Lieberman had similar restrictions.
Seinfeld should only have to pay Cohen half of her normal fee since she did a half-assed job.
They actually met on the honeymoon if you can imagine that. Jerry's wife apparently went to high school with me but I never knew her.
I gotta say, it's a weird world where flipping a light switch or turning a key are considered "work."
Actually, the light switch is more of a "fire" issue.
There's a list of things, and starting a fire is one --- lights being the modern equivalent.
Turning the key is not the issue --- carrying something (the key) from inside to outside is the issue.
Here's a reasonably good list:
http://www.ou.org/chagim/shabbat/thirtynine.htm
Seinfeld is an anti-Dentite.
I think she had just gotten back from Italy, but what's a few days here and there? Jerry asked her out, and the bride said yes, and the rest is history.
For those who have no idea what we're talking about, just google the name "Eric Nederlander". :)
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