A hedge fund manager in a high-stakes divorce no longer must pay the legal fees of his wife, who had not had the “skin in the game” that would give her an incentive to resolve litigation, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge has ruled.
The husband “has every incentive to curtail the litigation to the extent possible, even if that means accepting a settlement that falls short of what he wants. The wife, on the other hand, without any ‘skin in the game,’ does not have the same incentive insofar as her litigation costs are being paid for completely by her adversary,” Justice Matthew Cooper (See Profile) said. “Ironically, given that the husband is the party who now has the ‘heavier wallet,’ it is the wife who has the ‘distinct advantage’ because of her unfettered access to that wallet.”
