Use of Yiddish Word in Order Found Appropriate for Family-Based Tragedy.
Now we describe one of the most unusual (and amusing, but candid) sanctions orders entered by Judge Cristol in In re Herskowitz, 166 B.R. 764 (S.D. Fla. 1994).
In this case, the judge entered an “Order of Shanda” that was inspired out of these events. Susan Chaney, debtor’s sister, asked for an award of sanctions against her sister for bringing a meritless motion for continuance of a hearing that followed in a case where the sisters and two other relatives had been engaged in 17 years of bitterly contested litigation. Debtor’s main basis for a continuance was that she had a cold, a ground found wanting by the judge after an exhaustive search of legal authority. The jurist noted that debtor Judith Herskowitz had a history of wanting to go forward with scheduled matters. However, Judge Cristol also observed that the litigation had been bitter between family members and that it was likely both sisters were entrenched in the battle, because it usually takes “two to tango.”
The judge denied the continuance request and granted the sanctions request. With respect to sanctions, he ordered “that Ms. Herskowitz shall obtain and mail to Ms. Chaney, at least five days before Susan Chaney’s next birthday, a birthday card which contains the words “Happy Birthday Sister” and the signature of Ms. Herskowitz. The card shall not contain any negative, inflammatory or unkind matters but may contain an overture to family reconciliation and settlement.”
As the judge explained in a footnote, “shanda” is Yiddish for shame. He noted that Yiddish was supplanting Latin as the spice of American legal argot, with “shanda” being entirely descriptive of what was at play in a controversy he dubbed as tragic in nature.