Fortune Reports: How Ronald Perelman Met His Match
Fortune magazine provides an insightful account of billionaire Ronald Perelman’s litigation on behalf of his daughter against his ex-wife’s family of New Jersey book store and publishing distributor magnates. The New Jersey state court sanctioned Perelman’s counsel in excess of a million dollars for allegedly pursuing frivilous litigation. The article states:
When the Revlon chairman sued his ex-father-in-law Robert Cohen and his ex-brother-in-law James Cohen in 2008, hardly anyone batted an eyelash. …
Even by modern standards of dysfunctional-family estate battles — think of the Astor clan — this one was a lulu. … But Perelman, it turned out, tangled with the wrong octogenarian. …
Judge Koblitz’s decisions fell like a lash on Perelman’s legal team. In June she found Robert Cohen competent, rejecting Perelman’s demand that a guardian be appointed to represent him during the litigation. Later in the month she ruled on the central claim in Perelman’s case, that Robert Cohen had made a promise to Claudia before Sept. 1, 1978. “It’s just not there,” the judge said. “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”
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