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.
No. I disagree with you. God set an example for us -- you take a day off. God does not need to rest. WE need to rest. God does not need to be worship. WE need to worship.
Don't work on the Shabbat if you can help it. You need that time to worship the one true God, and to recharge your batteries. That's what I take from the Sabbath. That's what I think it means to say Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.
It's wrong to say God didn't create on the seventh day. He Created the Sabbath.
if you accept the Sabbath as for "everyone" accept all the other Mitzvas too. if not, than acknowledge that G-d was talking to Bnai Yisroel. B'nai Yisroel is a specific family which became a nation. it is NOT universal.
Since when do you have to sign a contract in order to view a property?
She already showed the property to the Seinfelds twice.
Minimum wage? I got 50 cents a pizza, which didn't cover my expenses. If I didn't get decent tips, I didn't make any money at all.
“Sorry... I can't spare a square.”
That's weird...
Either she was co-broker or not co-broker. The Sabbath has nothing to do with it. If it were Wednesday and she couldn't return the call, the issue would be the same.
Just so. The six days' work is called the Hexameron in the Christian tradition. St. Basil wrote a work of that title, and there were numerous imitations, such as DuBartas's poem on the six days work, translated by Sylvester and used by Milton in Paradise Lost.
The Christian view, which I don't think is that far from the Jewish view, is that the six days' work corresponds to worldly time, and the seventh day, on which God rested, corresponds to eternity.
The final stanza of Spenser's Faerie Queene, Book VII, also refers to this tradition.
Early Christians moved their sabbath from Saturday to Sunday to commemorate Easter.
First of all,I'm not expressing any judgments regarding the question of the basic legitimacy of Seinfeld's lawsuit. I've bought and sold several pieces of residential real estate in my life...in several states.I've found that state laws and regional customs vary from state to state.In all but one incidence,I was required to sign a contract with an agent before he/she would represent me as a buyer.I don't know how things are done in your neck of the woods.
As I said earlier,it was completely reasonable for the agent in question to refuse to work on Saturday (or Sunday...or any other day of the week).
But I think that it was reasonable for Seinfeld to expect his agent to work on Saturday unless he was specifically informed that she wouldn't.Whether or not her refusal to work on Saturday constitutes some sort of breach of contract (assuming that he wasn't informed of her refusal) I don't know.
However,I do know that,particularly in a hot real estate market,a single day can make the difference between getting or not getting a property and can sometimes even decide the interest rate you pay on your mortgage.
one of the points i intended to make by saying this:
(He is the creator who commanded us (the Jewish people) to stop creating on the 7th day, Shabbos (that would be Saturday to you) in the Bible)
is to make the point that you did very nicely.
Don't work on the Shabbat if you can help it. You need that time to worship the one true God, and to recharge your batteries. That's what I take from the Sabbath.
G-d stopped creating on the 7th day. the creation of the 7th was not on the 7th. please clarify your comment if you disagree.
i never implied that G-d needs to rest, that would be a huge mistake. sorry if you interpreted it that way. However, G-d set into motion a pattern for all time for the benefit of those to whom he commanded to keep Shabbos. The pattern He set is programed into our very beings since our beings come directly from Him.
However, there is no restriction on a gentile from any form of labor on shabbos. Shabbos is not included in the Noahide laws.
in regards to G-d needing to be worshipped, not so certain about this...
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.
so the issue of coverage seems to be a non-issue. Seinfeld paid the listing broker, per other article.
It's not stated, but the article's implication is that Seinfeld employed a buy side broker. If that's the case, her responsibity likely entailed researching suitable properties for Seinfeld, rather than showing him properties as the listing brokers agent. She located the property and showed it to him twice.
He apparently purchased the property "without" a broker, though ended up paying the listing agent. That would have been a tough one, that scam has been well litigated. I think he simply saw a way to save 100 grand. If other articles are correct that Seinfeld and not the seller, paid the listing broker that would support the idea that he was simply trying to save a few bucks.
It looks like NY might do things differently.
Jews call Shabbos "a foretaste of the world to come"
When did the Sabbath move from Saturdays to Sundays for mainline Christians ?
Mainline Christians aren't being discussed in this story.
I thought perhaps the CPA might know. Thanks for pointing out the obvious.
Well, if most of your clientele won't look at apartments or houses on Saturday, it works out for you.
Apparently, someone had to! :)
this looks like one for you....
i mean post #93 {sorry}
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