Sephardi shul’s court win
A SUPREME Court judge has found that the Sephardi Association of Victoria did not breach any agreements it had with the estate of Albert Sassoon Yehuda, a major donor.
A SUPREME Court judge has found that the Sephardi Association of Victoria did not breach any agreements it had with the estate of Albert Sassoon Yehuda, a major donor.
The St Kilda East organisation was taken to court last year after naming its new extension the Lyndi and Rodney Adler Sephardi Centre, to reflect a large donation it received from the Sydney-based Adlers.
In the dispute between the Yehuda estate executor Dan Horesh and the Sephardi Association, Horesh claimed the estate had an agreement that a $100,000 debt owed by the synagogue would be scrapped in exchange for naming rights to
the entire centre. The estate sought an order against the Sephardi Association to protect the naming rights it claimed, and asked for costs and damages to be awarded.
But in his judgement, Justice Peter Almond said the organisation’s obligations to name the synagogue, built in 1994, for Yehuda, did not relate to any subsequent extensions.
He also found that the Sephardi Association was not obliged to provide external signage on the synagogue with Yehuda’s name.
“At trial, the [Sephardi Association of Victoria] maintained, in my view correctly, that it had at all relevant times, complied with the known wishes of Mr Yehuda. Firstly, it had endeavoured to comply with its legal obligation to maintain in perpetuity the name of the synagogue as the ‘Sassoon Yehuda Synagogue’.
“Secondly, it had endeavoured to fulfill its perceived moral obligation by offering Mr Yehuda the first right of refusal to the naming rights to the extension, an offer which the State Trustees … saw fit to decline.”
Justice Almond said the estate “received precisely what it had bargained for, the naming rights to the hall”.
Sephardi Association president Paul Berman said he and others at the centre were “very pleased that the court recognised that, at all times, the association has complied with Mr Yehuda’s wishes”.
Horesh told The AJN he had no public comment on the judgement but foreshadowed an appeal.
PETER KOHN
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