THE SETTLEMENT OF THE ESTATE OF LAYA GELBER KWINTER

To fully understand the genesis of the June 11, 1984 option agreement and the ensuing decade long legal battle between Aaron Gelber and Norman Sternthal who were trying to enforce the terms of the agreement and the Kwinter brothers who were opposing its enforcement, one must realize that the real cause of the dispute was the increasingly acrimonious efforts to settle the estate of Kwinter brothers’ mother, Laya Gelber Kwinter.  As the Kwinter brothers’ lawyer, Mr. Pierre Bourque, eloquently advised the Court, the ‘Rosetta Stone’ to understanding this matter was not the events in the administration of the Estate of David Kwinter, but the contentious, if not torturous, efforts that were made to settle the estate of Laya Gelber Kwinter.  It was during the negotiations to settle the estate of Laya Gelber Kwinter that Aaron Gelber interceded and, in an effort to compel the Kwinter bothers to accept the very unfavorable terms that were then being offered by members of the Gelber family, wrongfully withheld monies that he was holding from the Kwinter brothers' father, David Kwinter with respect to a commercial property, Beacon Hill Villa, that Aaron Gelber and Norman Sternthal co-owned with David Kwinter.  Though Beacon Hill Villa had nothing to do with the Estate of Laya Gelber Kwinter and after openly acknowledging that what he was doing was unfair, Aaron Gelber threatened that he would be withholding monies from David Kwinter until the Kwinter brothers accepted the offer made to them with respect to their late mother’s estate.  Aaron Gelber’s clear threats to the Kwinter brothers were recorded during a telephone conversation between Hirsh Kwinter and Aaron Gelber which taped conversation  became a crucial, if not deciding, piece of evidence at the trial before Mr. Justice Gomery. When the Kwinter brothers’ response to the Aaron Gelber’s outrageous tactics was that they would advise their Father to seek legal advice to insure that he received the monies that their Father was legally entitled to, Aaron Gelber then focused his efforts on securing a one way option agreement with David Kwinter that granted Aaron Gelber and Norman Sternthal the option to purchase David Kwinter’s interest in the Beacon Hill Villa property at a highly advantageous price to Aaron Gelber and Norman Sternthal. 

 

Aaron Gelber’s tactic of withholding funds from David Kwinter therefore had two objectives: securing the Kwinter brothers’ acceptance of the offer made to settle their Mother’s estate and obtaining David Kwinter’s agreement to signing the option agreement.  Both objectives would result in a highly favorable result for Aaron Gelber and a significantly adverse result for the Kwinter brothers with respect to their Mother’s estate and David Kwinter, with respect to his co-ownership interest in the Beacon Hill Villa project.  In both cases, Aaron Gelber was resorting to economic pressure against parties that he knew were both vulnerable and in an unequal bargaining position: the Kwinter bothers, due to their youthful age and greatly inferior economic status and David Kwinter, due to his health and inferior economic status.  In the end, both the Kwinter brothers and David Kwinter capitulated, with the Kwinter brothers on May 3, 1984, accepting the offer made by the Gelber family to settle their late Mother’s estate and David Kwinter signing the option agreement on June 11, 1984.  It's interesting to note that prior to the Kwinter brother’s accepting the offer to settle their Mother’s estate, their lawyer, Peter Reimann, who was also a long time friend and colleague of the Kwinter brothers, resigned as their lawyer stating that while he understood the pressures that his clients and friends were acting under, he could not continue to act in a transaction where the Kwinter brothers were knowingly surrendering their Mother’s interests for a mere pittance.

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The following is a copy of the agreements where the Kwinter brothers agreed to sell their Mother’s interests for Peter Reimann's described pittance: