Well it was smackdowns and laughs in Department 2 this morning at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. Real funny for some and real sad for others. Department 2 is the domain of Judge Steinberg and the judge was sticking with her “tentative”..$489,254.05. Yup, she did it and this was an interim fee award without prejudice to request MORE!!!!! More??!! this judge got it and understood clearly what was being done in her court and did the right thing! And you know, the rich are different and should pay when they can to “keep the monkeys dancing.”
Who might you ask were the actors in this divorce drama???? Lisa Kerkorian was in court today with her lawyers, Michael Trope and his partner Patrick DeCarolis, it was strange, these two divorce titans said pretty much nothing…almost church-like! Their paperwork was submitted and there they sat waiting for a decision from Judge Steinberg. NOW, on the other side representing the 41st richest man in the world were Joe Mannis and Robert Kipper, who might you ask is their client? None other than Kirk Kerkorian, who is a very rich old fellow, born in Fresno on June 6, 1917. (I had the chance to meet him for a few seconds during his appearance in Federal Court in defense of his former lawyer and good friend, Terry Christensen. During the Anthony Pellicano wire tapping trial. He was twice as entertaining as Chris Rock and had not ejaculated down some girl’s leg as did Mr. Rock)
Joe Mannis was beside himself as he was throwing all he could to get the Judge not to give this huge sum of money to Lisa’s lawyers. Joe looked like a major league pitcher with no balls, a popcorn vendor with no pop or corn, Joe looked like a rock salt salesman with no ice, it was bad. Mr. Mannis went on for more than 20 minutes and Judge Steinberg looked as if she was thinking about lunch and could not even hear him.
This is more than huge money, Michael Trope and his client Lisa K can go back to court and likely get more in the weeks and months to come. This is bad for the rich old guy, now the former love of his life can fight him with his own money! If I were Mr. Mannis I would hope that Mr. Kerkorian does not have the volume turned up on his hearing aid when his assistant tells him that he got hammered in Los Angeles this morning…then again one must reflect that you cannot take all that money with you. And I have to wonder, would it not be just as easy to just settle with Lisa Kerkorian and put this whole nasty bit of public chatter to bed?
Note: It would appear that this year Mr. Kerkorian has been very generous to a few lawyers here in Los Angeles…”what was that clicking sound on my phone?”…