<$BlogRSDURL$>

Friday, July 13, 2018

Another Lamm lawsuit bubbles up 

Developer Shalom Lamm pleaded guilty this year to committing voter fraud in 2014 for the purpose of electing officials to the Village of Bloomingburg that would support his development plans, which would eventually include housing for thousands of Hasidic families.

Part of his plan included opening a religious school and mikveh (a ritual bathing facility) to serve the members of the Hasidic community, which was expected to grow quickly in the village. Also in 2014, Lamm's development company Sullivan Farms, filed a lawsuit against the Village of Bloomingburg and the Town of Mamakating claiming that officials from those municipalities illegally blocked them from opening the facility because of "pervasive, government-sponsored religious discrimination." 

The lawsuit was also filed on behalf of Mrs. Malka Rosenbaum and other defendants.  A person named Malka Rosenbaum was also named in an unsuccessful RICO lawsuit against Lamm as being one of the numerous voters who joined a separate lawsuit regarding being blocked from voting in a village election.  All of those voters then declined to appear in court to offer proof of residency or explain why they should be allowed to vote there.

At the time of the lawsuit over the school and mikveh, the planning boards of the village and town had been merged.  In 2016, without admitting any wrongdoing, the village and town decided to settle the case for $2.9 million to be paid by insurance companies, with Bloomingburg's carrier paying $1.305 million and Mamakating's paying $1.595 million.  Now Rosenbaum is challenging the way those funds were distributed.

According to a July 12 letter from New York City attorney Avrom Vann to the judge who presided over the religious discrimination case, Katherine B. Forrest, after the case was settled for $2.9 million, the lawyer representing Sullivan Farms told Rosenbaum that he was authorized by Sullivan Farms to give her $5,000 of the settlement.

Vann wrote, "At no time was Mrs. Rosenbaum's consent to the settlement requested nor given. Moreover, at no time prior to the implementation of the settlement was Mrs. Rosenbaum advised that she would not be receiving any portion of the settlement funds."

The firm that represented Sullivan Farms in the religious discrimination case was Dechert LLP. According to the letter, one of the lawyers from Derchert indicated to Vann the cost of the litigation exceeded the settlement. Further he said that the settlement included that there would be a school and mikveh in the village and that Rosenbaum had agreed that Sullivan Farms would make all litigation decisions in the case, and Rosenbaum agreed with that.

Vann's letter also asked the judge if she would prefer him to bring the matter before her to determine what portion of the settlement Rosenbaum should be entitled to, or file a new separate lawsuit in the matter.

In a hand-written note, Forrest responded that the case was permanently closed and that Rosenbaum should, "proceed in a court of competent jurisdiction if appropriate."

https://riverreporter.com/news-news-stories/another-lamm-lawsuit-bubbles

Comments: Post a Comment

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Google
Chaptzem! Blog

-