"Musical Chairs" moves to Court of Appeals

ALBANY - A lawyer for the victors in a citizens' lawsuit against the village of Monticello might get paid after all, depending on the decision of New York's highest court.

Callicoon lawyer Loran Shlevin is claiming $50,000 for representing Victor Gordon and Alexander Cherviok, two Monticello taxpayers who overturned the illegal government which resulted when public officials held an improper executive session and agreed to support one another in a vote to move each other up in positions and salary.

The episode dubbed "musical chairs" occurred in March 1993. In the citizens' victory, several officials were thrown out of office by the court.

Supreme court justice Vincent Bradley's ruling that actions had been committed which were unlawful and violated the village's code of ethics was upheld by the Appellate Division in January. But an award of unspecified attorney fees which Bradley ordered was struck down by the five-judge panel.

Shlevin claimed she calculated the $50,000 figure based on her time, office help, and supplies expended fighting the case. During the proceeding, Shlevin received contributions toward court costs from funds raised by a local taxpayer group, the Sullivan County Action Coalition. Gordon and Cherviok were both coalition members.

Since the "Musical Chairs" victory, Shlevin has represented the Monticello Police Benevolent Association, which is now publicly calling on Robert Friedland to resign as mayor.

Village attorney Martin Miller counseled against "reading too much into" the Court of Appeals' agreement to hear the case, adding, "We don't know what's in the court's mind."

Monticello resident John Barbarite said at a May 5th village board meeting that if the Court of Appeals orders attorney fees paid, he may file a suit similar to one successfully brought against Town of Delaware officials, seeking to have the sum paid by the guilty parties personally rather than from public coffers.

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