Someone should have told Jerry Seinfeld that "location, location, location" isn't the most important thing to consider when purchasing a property. Apparently, knowing the religious practices of your Realtor can be just as essential.
In a scenario that sounds like a lost Seinfeld episode—minus the funny bits—the entertainer has been ordered to fork over roughly $100,000 in commission to a real estate broker who helped him find a townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side nearly two years ago. Seinfeld had refused to pay up because the broker, an observant Jew, declined to show the property on the Sabbath.
Tamara Cohen was the broker who first took Seinfeld's wife, Jessica, to see the $3.95 million townhouse in January 2005.
A month later, the Seinfelds wished to be escorted through the premises once more and attempted to contact Cohen. However, it was a Saturday; Cohen's cell phone was off and she was unreachable for the day.
Apparently unwilling to postpone the walk-through, the Seinfelds visited that day without her and ended up negotiating the seven-figure price tag directly with the owner.
Because of Cohen's noninvolvement in the final process—or, as the comic's court papers put it, her unavailability "to show him the premises when he wanted to see it"—Seinfeld deemed her un-check-worthy.
Cohen was notified of the sale by phone and informed that her absence would cost her the commission. She filed suit against the couple, claiming she had previously informed them of her religious devotion. The Seinfelds, meanwhile, denied that they were in the know.
Earlier this month, however, New York State Supreme Court Judge Rolando Acosta ruled that while Cohen apparently failed to heed the Seinfelds' every beck and call, she was nevertheless entitled to her rightful commission thanks to a contract she and the Seinfelds had signed.
"The only real issue here, as far as the court is concerned, is whether the broker's fee was 5 or 6 percent," Acosta said.
Acosta ordered a trial to determine which percentage Cohen would receive, which means she can now look forward to either $98,750 or $118,500—neither of which should put too big a dent in Seinfeld's pockets.
The sitcom alum has reportedly netted more than $1 billion in residuals from his eponymous show. He will be adding to coffers later this year as the producer-writer-star of DreamWorks' computer-animated Bee Movie, due out in November.