Carter Ledyard congratulates two of its lawyers for their hard-fought victory in a case over the control of a Crown Heights synagogue, which case was litigated by the lawyers at their prior firm, with a long-awaited final contempt order being issued on December 24, 2015. They prevailed at every stage of their representation of the Synagogue and its longstanding board members in the case of Congregation Ahavas Moishe v. Katzoff et al. First they obtained a temporary restraining order preventing the Respondents from interfering with the management and supervision of the Synagogue during the pendency of the case. Then they procured an order confirming the Rabbinical Court arbitration award which had granted the Synagogue’s longstanding President control of the Synagogue for an additional three years. Finally, after a trial that took place on 27 days spanning three years, the Supreme Court justice presiding over the case found that the Respondents had contemptuously violated the temporary restraining order and awarded the Synagogue $246,000 in damages. Eli Blachman, the longstanding President of the Synagogue stated “we are forever grateful to Mitchell C. Shapiro and Jacob Nemon for their excellent work and dedication to our case, which was above and beyond the call of duty.”
Litigation partner Mitchell C. Shapiro and associate Jacob H. Nemon represented the Synagogue known as the Maple Street Shul.