Special Referee Jeffrey Helewitz
The issues raised in this matrimonial action, on which the Special Referee was authorized to hear and report, included attorney fees, and the alleged fraud, misrepresentation and misconduct allegedly committed by wife and her attorneys. Husband argued wife and her attorneys intentionally deceived the couple's former housekeeper to unknowingly execute an affidavit containing statements wife knew to be false in connection with a motion for pendente lite maintenance and attorney fees. The court found wife's counsel did not engage in any fraudulent practice or misrepresentation, noting the prior court's decision indicated the judge did not rely on any of the papers submitted by wife in her pendente lite motion, but based the award on the financial documents provided by husband. It noted housekeeper's primary motivating factor in recanting her prior statements in the affidavit was to effect a reconciliation with the parties' children, stating it did not appear the housekeeper was lying, merely that she did not understand the difference between knowledge personally gained versus that acquired by hearsay. Also, the court found husband was equally guilty of filing false financial statements, thus could not grant his requested relief.
