2/16/09 COURIERPOST (No Page) 2/16/09 Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, N.J.) (Pg. Unavail. Online) 2009 WLNR 21008787 Loaded Date: 10/22/2009
Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ) Copyright 2009 Gannett February 16, 2009 Section: NEWS
Family feud reaches new heights February 16, 2009 Courier-Post Staff In 2000, a doctor diagnosed Harry Sable with Alzheimer's disease. One year later, another physician found the elderly Cherry Hill man unable to care for himself or run his jewelry business, court papers say. But in October 2003, one of his sons, Barry Sable, took him to a lawyer who drew up a new will. It left the entire estate of Harry Sable, then a married father of three, to one person -- Barry Sable. That change, made weeks after Harry had been involuntarily committed, deepened a family feud and fueled a long legal battle between Barry Sable, a Burlington County resident, and a disinherited brother, Michael. Now, a state appeals court has come down in Michael Sable's favor. The three-judge panel last week upheld a Superior Court ruling that the October 2003 will, and another prepared a short time later, were invalid and were prepared under Barry Sable's undue influence. The judges also supported an order that Barry Sable must pay more than $700,000, an amount that includes money missing or spent improperly from his father's accounts, as well as legal expenses for his brother. "We're very pleased with the decision, but it was sad we had to go through a trial and everything to get to this point," said Kenneth Goodkind, a Cherry Hill attorney representing Michael Sable, who lives in California. "It was very stressful and unfortunate." Barry Sable and his attorney, Jeffrey Pollock of Princeton, could not be reached for comment.
The dispute's personal nature shows in the opening line of Wednesday's 31-page decision. "This appeal pits brother against brother in a fight over control of the personal estate and estate plan of their incapacitated octogenarian father." The decision noted Harry Sable, once the self-proclaimed "King of Wedding Bands," left everything to his wife, Jean, in a 1998 will. In the event of Jean's death, assets would be divided among Barry, Michael and a third son, Don. John Lolio, the attorney for the elder Sables, sent copies of the will to the sons in August 2002. By that time, Harry Sable's dementia was apparent and Jean Sable had suffered a severe stroke. "Based on the medical evaluation of each parent, it is apparent that no changes can be made to their wills due to their mental impairments," Lolio wrote at that time. But a legal fight began in 2003 when Michael Sable, who had power of attorney for his mother's health decisions, placed her in the Jewish Geriatric Home in Cherry Hill. Attorney Michael Kouvatas sued on behalf of Barry and Harry, seeking to remove the mother from the institution. Jean Sable died at the facility in January 2005, the appellate decision said. According to the ruling, Barry Sable initially asked Lolio, his parents' lawyer, to change the will. Lolio said he refused, noting Harry Sable "just didn't have a general understanding of anything at that time," the decision noted. Barry Sable, who denied the meeting with Lolio occurred, then sought an opinion from a local doctor, Murray Moliken in 2003, the decision said. It said Moliken, who did not review the elderly man's medical records or diagnoses, determined that Harry Sable "was mentally impaired to some extent, but that he understood how his assets should be distributed." According to the decision, Kouvatas then prepared the October 2003 will that left everything to Barry Sable. Another will was drawn up the next month -- "after Harry expressed some concern," the decision says -- that left the estate to his wife, but said Barry would receive 75 percent of assets after her death and Don would get the rest." There was no disposition for Michael, the decision noted. Michael Sable sued in 2005, seeking in part to void all legal actions taken after Oct. 1, 2003. Superior Court Judge M. Allan Vogelson ruled in Michael's favor in December 2006, finding the father lacked the mental capacity to execute the 2003 wills. He also said a court-appointed guardian had found evidence of "Barry's misapplication
and misappropriation of Harry's assets." Among other points, he said, Barry Sable could not document how he spent his father's funds and whether he had repaid money described as loans. Vogelson also noted that Barry had taken his father's share of a building on Philadelphia's Jewelers Row, a Sansom Street property that housed the son's business, Barry Sable The Diamond Authority. Vogelson also found that Barry Sable had spent more than $250,000 of his father's funds to pursue the lawsuit over his mother, a case that Vogelson described as "not in Harry's interest, but in Barry's interest." Barry Sable had appealed Vogelson's decision, arguing in part that the judge improperly accepted the opinion of a medical witness on his brother's behalf and erred when finding undue influence and assessing attorney fees. He also argued Vogelson had no power to void the 2003 wills "because Harry is still living." The appellate panel rebuffed all of those claims and concluded the 2003 legal documents "were properly invalidated." Reach Jim Walsh at (856) 486-2646 or jwalsh@courierpostonline.com Â