Israel tells U.S. Federal court:
Lawyer deserves to be paid for representing Holocaust survivors
April 4, 2006
Haaretz.com
By Amiram Barkat
Lawyers on behalf of Israel have spoken in a New York court in defense of a U.S. jurist's demand for a fee for handling claims submitted by Holocaust survivors. The lawyers refrained from commenting on the sum being demanded by Prof. Burt Neuborne, who is seeking payment of $4.1 million, at a rate of $700 per hour.
Neuborne has represented Holocaust survivors seeking humanitarian aid, and claims to have put in some 8,000 hours of work on the cases. His demand for $4.1 million, he says, constitutes just 75 percent of the sum owed to him.
Neuborne's demand for payment has sparked much anger among Holocaust survivors in the United States who say that the man had said on several occasions that he was working free of charge. The survivors are also enraged by the fact that Neuborne is demanding payment from a fund serving Holocaust survivors worldwide.
'Disappointing'
"I find it very disappointing that the State of Israel is choosing to work against Holocaust survivors rather than help them," Leo Rechter, president of NAHOS (National Association of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors), said to Haaretz.
Rechter claims that the fee Neuborne is demanding surpasses the sum received by Holocaust survivors in the United States out of the total amount of money distributed as aid to needy survivors around the world.
Neuborne's demand for payment was a "double betrayal," said Auschwitz survivor David Mermelstein: "No. 1 - that he was telling us all along that he will not get paid; and No. 2, to take away this money from the needy survivors is a crime."
From 1996 to 1998, Neuborne represented Holocaust survivors in a class-action suit that accused Swiss banks of helping the Nazis loot hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Jewish holdings.
In 1999, the banks struck a deal with Judge Edward Korman of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn under which they transferred $1.25 billion to the court and, in return, received immunity from future class-action suits.
Korman then appointed Neuborne to represent the survivors with regard to the distribution of the money itself.
Philadelphia attorney Robert Swift, who worked with Neuborne, has asked Judge Korman to refuse Neuborne's request for the fee. He said Neuborne neither informed him that he intended to seek a fee during the administration of the settlement nor sought to engage his legal skills not those who were acting pro bono.
Other lawyers, however, support Neuborne's demand for payment. Paul Berger and Kenneth Yalowitz, who represent the State of Israel, wrote to Korman that "there is no reason for Prof. Neuborne not to receive suitable payment for the time he has put in on the case."
Neuborne, himself, told the New York Times in February that "it was a grueling job that nobody else wanted. I voluntarily gave up my fees for getting the settlement - and that would be $10 million - somehow I'm not allowed to be paid for seven years' work."
April 4, 2006
Haaretz.com
By Amiram Barkat
Lawyers on behalf of Israel have spoken in a New York court in defense of a U.S. jurist's demand for a fee for handling claims submitted by Holocaust survivors. The lawyers refrained from commenting on the sum being demanded by Prof. Burt Neuborne, who is seeking payment of $4.1 million, at a rate of $700 per hour.
Neuborne has represented Holocaust survivors seeking humanitarian aid, and claims to have put in some 8,000 hours of work on the cases. His demand for $4.1 million, he says, constitutes just 75 percent of the sum owed to him.
Neuborne's demand for payment has sparked much anger among Holocaust survivors in the United States who say that the man had said on several occasions that he was working free of charge. The survivors are also enraged by the fact that Neuborne is demanding payment from a fund serving Holocaust survivors worldwide.
'Disappointing'
"I find it very disappointing that the State of Israel is choosing to work against Holocaust survivors rather than help them," Leo Rechter, president of NAHOS (National Association of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors), said to Haaretz.
Rechter claims that the fee Neuborne is demanding surpasses the sum received by Holocaust survivors in the United States out of the total amount of money distributed as aid to needy survivors around the world.
Neuborne's demand for payment was a "double betrayal," said Auschwitz survivor David Mermelstein: "No. 1 - that he was telling us all along that he will not get paid; and No. 2, to take away this money from the needy survivors is a crime."
From 1996 to 1998, Neuborne represented Holocaust survivors in a class-action suit that accused Swiss banks of helping the Nazis loot hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Jewish holdings.
In 1999, the banks struck a deal with Judge Edward Korman of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn under which they transferred $1.25 billion to the court and, in return, received immunity from future class-action suits.
Korman then appointed Neuborne to represent the survivors with regard to the distribution of the money itself.
Philadelphia attorney Robert Swift, who worked with Neuborne, has asked Judge Korman to refuse Neuborne's request for the fee. He said Neuborne neither informed him that he intended to seek a fee during the administration of the settlement nor sought to engage his legal skills not those who were acting pro bono.
Other lawyers, however, support Neuborne's demand for payment. Paul Berger and Kenneth Yalowitz, who represent the State of Israel, wrote to Korman that "there is no reason for Prof. Neuborne not to receive suitable payment for the time he has put in on the case."
Neuborne, himself, told the New York Times in February that "it was a grueling job that nobody else wanted. I voluntarily gave up my fees for getting the settlement - and that would be $10 million - somehow I'm not allowed to be paid for seven years' work."
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 2:08 AM
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