>>Dr. Bartha’s former lawyer, Ira E. Garr, said Ms. Hahn won her legal battle to get control of the house when Dr. Bartha was too depressed to try to fight back.
Real estate records show that the house was bought by his parents, John and Ethel, in 1980. Dr. Bartha’s father gave him a half-interest, and then his mother, when she died, left a quarter interest to Dr. Bartha and a quarter interest to his daughters.
In the original divorce proceeding, Mr. Garr successfully argued that the house was Dr. Bartha’s separate property — not marital property. The judge agreed. On appeal, the house was found to be marital property, and the appellate court sent the case back to be retried on financial issues.
Mr. Garr said he wanted to appeal further, but Dr. Bartha stopped returning phone calls or answering letters. “I didn’t get permission from him to do anything; he didn’t respond,” Mr. Garr said.
Frustrated and owed money for legal fees, Mr. Garr said, he withdrew from the case. He said he had not spoken to the doctor for some time and speculated that he might have been heartbroken and not acting out of greed. After she won the appeal, Mr. Garr said, Ms. Bartha won a judgment against her ex-husband by default because he did not show up for a hearing.
Mr. Garr did not blame the judge for issuing the default judgment, saying, “The judge is not a mind reader. Nobody’s got a crystal ball saying he’s depressed. Maybe he’s on vacation in Hawaii. There’s just no way” for the judge to know.<<
Sounds like the Client From Hell. Rigid and maladaptive. |
