Sunday, January 21, 2007
Judge to Seinfeld: Pay up, buddy
"Jerry Seinfeld's high-priced home is going to cost him more than he thought - about $100,000 more," the Associated Press reports.
Late last week, a Manhattan judge ruled that Seinfeld owes a $100,000 commission to Tamara Cohen, the broker who helped him find a townhouse on the Upper West Side that he bought for $4 million in February 2005. Seinfeld had argued that Cohen did not deserve the commission because she failed to show the West 82nd Street on the day Seinfeld wanted to see it, which happened to be a Saturday.
According to the AP, "the Seinfelds looked at the house and made a deal to buy it without Cohen after they were unable to reach Cohen and she failed to return their calls." Cohen told the court that Seinfeld was aware that she observed the Jewish Sabbath and could not work between Friday evening and sundown Saturday. Seinfeld told the court he did not know why Cohen did not return his calls.
This story proves that we should never underestimate how greedy and stingy rich liberals can be. Not only is Jerry Seinfeld more than financially capable of paying a 5 percent commission on a real estate purchase, he should be embarrassed for trotting out a ridiculously spurious reason for why he shouldn't have to pay said commission.
Jerry Seinfeld is Jewish. His real estate broker has a Jewish surname. Seinfeld was attempting to purchase a home in an area of Manhattan that has a large number of Jewish residents. Indeed, the oldest Jewish congregation in NYC, Shearith Israel, is located on the Upper West Side. Common sense should've told Seinfeld that maybe, just maybe, a person named Cohen was unavailable on a Saturday because she was at synagogue or observing the Sabbath.
Jerry Seinfeld is obviously a very smart guy. I certainly would've figured him as someone who could think up a better excuse than the I-tried-to-call-but-nobody-answered excuse he used to try to get out of a financial obligation. Obviously, I was wrong.
Late last week, a Manhattan judge ruled that Seinfeld owes a $100,000 commission to Tamara Cohen, the broker who helped him find a townhouse on the Upper West Side that he bought for $4 million in February 2005. Seinfeld had argued that Cohen did not deserve the commission because she failed to show the West 82nd Street on the day Seinfeld wanted to see it, which happened to be a Saturday.
According to the AP, "the Seinfelds looked at the house and made a deal to buy it without Cohen after they were unable to reach Cohen and she failed to return their calls." Cohen told the court that Seinfeld was aware that she observed the Jewish Sabbath and could not work between Friday evening and sundown Saturday. Seinfeld told the court he did not know why Cohen did not return his calls.
This story proves that we should never underestimate how greedy and stingy rich liberals can be. Not only is Jerry Seinfeld more than financially capable of paying a 5 percent commission on a real estate purchase, he should be embarrassed for trotting out a ridiculously spurious reason for why he shouldn't have to pay said commission.
Jerry Seinfeld is Jewish. His real estate broker has a Jewish surname. Seinfeld was attempting to purchase a home in an area of Manhattan that has a large number of Jewish residents. Indeed, the oldest Jewish congregation in NYC, Shearith Israel, is located on the Upper West Side. Common sense should've told Seinfeld that maybe, just maybe, a person named Cohen was unavailable on a Saturday because she was at synagogue or observing the Sabbath.
Jerry Seinfeld is obviously a very smart guy. I certainly would've figured him as someone who could think up a better excuse than the I-tried-to-call-but-nobody-answered excuse he used to try to get out of a financial obligation. Obviously, I was wrong.
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Sunday, January 21, 2007 
