Other items in this column include:
* Political bytes
* Coming our way
* Recommended reading
SAN DIEGO – When arts supporter Mickey Stern died on July 1, 2016, she left an estate valued at more than $12.8 million, consisting of $9.5 million in cash and securities, a La Jolla condominium at 939 Coast Boulevard valued at $3.3 million, and about $40,000 in personal property.
A battle over her will ensued, pitting Stern’s two children, Melanie and Robert Sturm, and her grandson Zane Zachary Sturm, against Congregation Beth Israel of San Diego. At issue was the question of what party or parties should pay the taxes after the bequests of the estate were distributed. If Congregation Beth Israel prevailed, it would have meant a windfall to the Reform congregation that was estimated in a Los Angeles Superior Court document at $2.2 million.
However, Superior Court Judge Daniel Juarez ruled last July that Stern had intended for the taxes to be paid from the residue of the estate after specific bequests were paid. These included: $2 million each to Melanie and Robert Sturm, and $1 million to her grandson Zane Zachary Sturm; and the La Jolla condo to become the property of the two children, with Melanie inheriting a 51 percent share and Robert a 49 percent share.
Other bequests included $200,000 to Elvia Gamez; $100,000 to Joanne Bakken, both of whom had been employees of Mickey Stern; and the following grants to charitable organizations: $500,000 each to the M.D. Anderson Hospital of Houston and the University of Nebraska; $250,000 to the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library; $200,000 to the Old Globe Theatre; and $100,000 to the La Jolla Community Theatre.
Stern had provided that the residue of her estate should go to Congregation Beth Israel after all distributions were made. In what became a very contentious dispute over who should pay the taxes, Congregation Beth Israel’s attorneys said that Stern had been estranged from her two children and that, except for the requirements under a division-of- property agreement made in 1986 when she and her husband, Donald Sturm, had divorced, she would have wanted her estate to go to charity rather than to her children. This was vigorously denied by Melanie Sturm, who said in court documents that she and her mother had a good relationship after they cleared up Stern’s misconception that she and Robert had favored their father.
The case turned on the wording of the will, which the court interpreted to mean that Stern did not want her children to pay taxes out of their share unless they contested the terms of the will. As they did not contest the will, only the interpretation of the wording concerning estate taxes, the judge ruled that the taxes should be paid from the residue of the estate, not from the bequests made to the children.
At the end of last month, Judge Juarez imposed sanctions against Congregation Beth Israel, saying it had improperly caused Melanie Sturm to spend an extra $45,312 in attorney fees when it declined to stipulate to issues it had no reasonable expectation of successfully contesting.
Both parties to the dispute were asked for comment. Congregation Beth Israel did not respond immediately.
Melanie Sturm said: “On my part, I consider this case closed. Having endured enormous emotional pain throughout this litigation, including the impugning of my relationship with my Mother, and the forced sale at auction of the contents of my Mom’s condo, I can only hope that this tortuous and expensive legal matter is finally behind me and my brother. Despite all, I’ve recognized that I’m among the luckiest people to have ever walked this earth, which is why I’ve been determined to use my resources to assure that institutions in which our civil society must have ‘faith’ are held accountable for their conduct. Thankfully, justice prevailed in this matter, for which I feel enormous gratitude to the American court system. Because of the onslaught of false and hurtful attacks regarding my relationship with my Mom, it has been difficult to find closure with her passing. Now having been completely vindicated, I believe my prayers have been heard – for my Mother to rest in peace and for her memory to be a blessing to all she touched, especially to me and my brother.”
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Political bytes
*Chula Vista Mayor Mary Salas is among a group of officials who have endorsed the plan of presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg for immigration reform, which he said will include these provisions:
1) Rescinds the travel ban that President Trump recently expanded.
2) Ends family separation, establishes rigorous safeguards for children and promotes alternatives to detention for individuals who pose no threat to pubic safety.
3) Protects Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders.
4) Orders the Department of Justice to investigate abuse at ICE and CBP and reforms the agencies to ensure oversight and accountability.
5) Sets the annual refugee resettlement target at 125,000. Trump has lowered the refugee cap to 18,000, the lowest since the program was created in 1980.
6) Restores fairness and timeliness to the asylum process.
7) Ends Trump’s wasteful effort that has sapped military funding to pay for an ineffective border wall.
8) Protects the border through smart, effective security measures and upgrades U.S. ports of entry.
9) Implements sensible immigration enforcement priorities that promote pubic safety and national security.
10) Reduces the inefficient immigration backlog, which has nearly doubled to more than 1 million cases under President Trump.
11) Clears the naturalization backlog and helps more qualified immigrants become U.S. citizens.
12) Protects workers from displacement, exploitation and labor violations
13) Creates an earned pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people to come forward, register, pay fees and taxes owed, and pass background checks.
14) Makes employment-based immigration more responsive to economic needs, preserves family and diversity immigration, and reduces backlogs that keep families apart.
15) Creates place-based visas that will allow localities to address unmet economic and social needs.
16) Creates a start-up visa for job creating entrepreneurs and allows international students who graduate with advanced degrees in essential fields like STEM, healthcare or business to apply for green cards.
17) Expands opportunities for foreign-born physicians and nurses to help address the shortage of healthcare workers in rural and under-served communities across the country. There will be a shortage of more than 120,000 physicians by 2032 and the need for nurses is expected to grow faster than all other occupations from 2018-2028.
Salas commented, “The state of immigration is at crisis levels and we need to protect our families and our children. The existing border policy isn’t working. People are suffering and it doesn’t have to be that way. We need to modernize our borders, use better technology. The wall isn’t the answer. It will be expensive to build and even more expensive to maintain. Our dollars should be invested elsewhere. The border has been a grey area for way too long. Mike Bloomberg will modernize America’s ports of entry and implement a complete and functionally sound entry and exit system. He will get the job done.”
*Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Los Angeles), who led the efforts in the House of Representatives to impeach President Donald Trump, has endorsed Terra Lawson-Remer in her bid for San Diego County’s 3rd District Supervisorial seat now held by incumbent Kristin Gaspar. Schiff said: “As a senior advisor in the Obama Administration, Terra Lawson-Remer worked for sustainable development and environmental justice. As an economics professor, she has a detailed knowledge of effective pubic policy. After the 2016 election she put her academic career on hold to organize ‘Flip the 49th!’ to help win a vital Congressional seat and take back the House. She mobilized hundreds of volunteers to reclaim our democracy. Terra Lawon-Remer will be an outstanding member of the San Diego {County} Board of Supervisors and I am proud to support her.”
*Judicial candidate Michelle Ialeggio, a deputy district attorney of 15 years standing, will be hosted at a fundraiser at the Robbins, Geller, Rudman & Dowd law firm at 5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 655 W. Broadway, Suite 1900. She is running for Office No. 36 of the Superior Court.
* Sara Jacobs, a candidate in the 53rd Congressional District from which Susan Davis is retiring, has been endorsed by Democratic U.S. Rep. Harley Rouda of California. He said, “Sara Jacobs comes to the table with the experience and willingness to work with anyone to get things done, even in a divided Washington. I know she’ll be a great representative for San Diego, and will join the California delegation ready to tackle serious issues that affect our communities like the climate crisis.”
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Coming our way
Congregation Ohr Shalom has scheduled numerous events in observance of Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month.
–On Friday, Feb. 21, at 10:30 a.m., Rabbi Scott Meltzer will read from Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon; at 6:15 p.m., the congregation will celebrate Shabbat with American Sign Language interpreters and a speech by Elana Naftalin-Kelman, director of special needs programming of Camp Ramah, Ojai. A community dinner at 7:15 p.m. is priced at $12 for members, $15 for non members.
–On Saturday, Feb. 22, Elana Naftalin-Kelman of Camp Ramah, and ASL interpreters, will participate in the morning Torah service followed by a Lunch & Learn during which Naftalin-Kelman will discuss “Purim and the Masks We Wear: Purim as the Holiday of Inclusion.”
–On Sunday, Feb. 23, at 10:30 a.m., the congregation presents “a La Jolla Playhouse POP Tour Emily Driver’s Great Race Through Time and Space, a story of a young girl who takes her worn-out wheelchair on a time-traveling trip across the country.
–On Sunday, March 1, at 10 a.m., Dr. Suzanne Stolz, assistant professor of special education at the University of San Diego, and Dr. Joseph Stramondo, assistant professor of philosophy at San Diego State University, will discuss “Family and Disability: Navigating the Relationship Landscape.” At 6:45 p.m., the synagogue will show the movie Peanut Butter Falcon, in which a young man with Down’s Syndrome runs away from his care home to make his dream of being a wrestler come true.
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Recommended reading
The New York Times reports that Amazon has decided to jettison Nazi propaganda books.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com