Monday, February 23, 2015

Judge dismisses suit against Van Lenten estate, others

After the snow stopped falling Sunday, a man cleared snow near a Korean school on Passaic Street in Hackensack.


By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Peter Van Lenten Jr. helped others cheat The Record's publisher out of more than $3 million.

The decision, filed last Wednesday, is an embarrassing setback for North Jersey Media Group's litigious general counsel, Vice President Jennifer A. Borg, and the Hackensack law firm of Pashman Stein, which often represents the company.  

The suit alleged Van Lenten, who was NJMG vice president of information technology until April 2009, helped about two dozen others defraud the publisher of The Record.

The suit claimed the company paid more than $2 million "on false/and or inflated invoices" from 2001 to 2009, and an additional $1 million for temporary workers hired at "greatly inflated charges."

Van Lenten died in April 2010, and his estate was named a defendant. But Stephen R. Bosin, a River Edge attorney, described the estate as an entity with no cash.


This afternoon, Bosin said Superior Court Judge Robert C. Wilson in Hackensack dismissed the suit against all of the defendants.

The suit was filed in April 2013.

Imagine how much Pashman Stein billed NJMG in legal fees for nearly two years of litigation at several hundreds of dollars an hour.

Today's paper

Except for all of that space wasted on the anti-climactic Oscars, the rest of Page 1 today is soft news that is of little use to readers.

Maybe The Record should save a ton of newsprint and publish Tuesdays to Sundays.



6 comments:

  1. You can rest now Pete. I miss you dearly

    ReplyDelete
  2. Was NJMG ordered to pay Van Lenten's Estates legal fees?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't seen the written decision. I think a judge can order the plaintiff to pay a defendant's legal fees if he considers the litigation frivolous. I'm not sure what happens if a suit is dismissed

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    2. No fees were awarded, according to the Van Lenten Estate's lawyer.

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  3. Whats the real story behind this case Mr. Sasson? NJMG did not spend tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees against a deceased NJ citizen and former NJMG employee for money. What were they really after from his estate that did not show up in court documents? Thank You.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Read the judge's 40-page decision and hope to post something tomorrow.

      Delete

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