Wife gets $200,000

Robert L. Elliott
A T T O R N E Y A T L A W
: Certified Civil Trial Specialist : National Board of Trial Advocacy :
E-mail : elliottlaw@attorneyelliott.com

Former wife gets $200,000
in Stock Case

By Bob Bushner
of the Press Staff

A Circuit City jury awarded a Glendale woman more than $200,000 in punitive damages after jurors determined her former husband and his parents conspired to keep company stocks out of the divorce settlement.

The jury deliberated for four hours Thursday night before finding that the conduct of Jeffrey Schwartz of Milwaukee and William and Dorothy Schwartz of 2244 N. 23rd St., Sheboygan, "'as, according to the jury verdict, "outrageous" in dealings about the stock holdings and loans in Jeffrey's divorce proceedings with his former wife, Margaret Schwartz.

Milwaukee attorney Robert Elliott, who represented Margaret Schwartz, said William and Dorothy Schwartz filed a lawsuit in March 1994, during Jeffrey and Margaret's divorce proceedings, claiming that privately-held stock they had given and sold to Jeffrey in 1986 was rescinded verbally in 1991, but that the transaction wasn't put into writing until after the divorce action was started.

The document finalizing that transfer of stock from Jeffrey to William and Dorothy Schwartz was signed in 1993 but had been back-dated to 1991, Elliott said. This had an impact on the division of property in the divorce which was filed in 1992 in Milwaukee County.

In addition, Elliott said the Sheboygan couple also contended in the litigation that their son and daughter-in-laws still owed them $50,000 for a mortgage loan. But the couple later said that the loan had been forgiven by the in-laws as a holiday gift.

William and Dorothy Schwartz ultimately dropped their lawsuit, but Margaret filed an abuse-of-process suit against both her former husband and in-laws, contending that the Schwartzes' filing of the lawsuit in Sheboygan County was use of the legal process for an improper purpose.

During the four-day trial before Circuit Judge James Bolgert here last week, however, the jury determined that William Dorothy and Jeffrey Schwartz conspired to deprive Margaret of part of the divorce settlement.

The jury awarded Margaret Schwartz $247.50 in time lost at work during the litigation, as well as $250 for child care expenses to pursue the lawsuit.

In addition, the jurors awarded her punitive damages of $85,000 from William and Dorothy Schwartz and $135,000 from Jeffrey Schwartz.

A hearing on any motions filed after the verdict has been scheduled for Nov.1 before Bolgert.

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