- Posted February 07, 2012
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Details of Rosa Parks estate settlement now public
DETROIT (AP) -- Details are out on the secret legal agreement meant to settle a dispute over civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks' estate.
A confidential seven-page document detailing the deal was included in a Jan. 18 filing with the Michigan Supreme Court, making it public, the Detroit Free Press reported recently.
The deal gives Parks' longtime friend Elaine Steele and an institute that Parks and Steele created together 80 percent of the estate. Parks' 15 nieces and nephews receive 20 percent. The multimillion dollar estate includes proceeds from the sale of Parks' possessions and royalties from licensing her name.
Parks was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a white man, bringing the young the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to prominence in the fight to desegregate the transit system. Parks later moved to Detroit and was a longtime aide to U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit. She died in 2005 at age 92.
Steele and the institute previously had lost their share of the estate because of a breach of confidentiality. The document was filed as part of an appeal of a court order reinstating her as co-executor.
The document was filed by Alan May, a lawyer representing two men who had been appointed as fiduciaries for the estate after Parks' nieces and nephews challenged her will.
May attached the agreement to a legal brief that urged the Supreme Court to reconsider its Dec. 29 decision ordering a judge to put Steele and retired 36th District Judge Adam Shakoor back in charge of the estate, in keeping with Parks' wishes.
"The Supreme Court released the settlement agreement, I didn't," May told the newspaper. He said that the high court's staff had assured him his filing would be kept confidential.
"I believed I was filing a sealed document," May said.
May earlier complained in court that lawyer Steven Cohen, who represented Steele and the institute, had publicly divulging part of the document, violating a confidentiality agreement. That complaint led Wayne County Probate Court Judge Freddie Burton to cut Steele and the institute out of the estate.
The Supreme Court's December decision reversed that action.
Cohen said May was careless.
"Alan May and his clients used a phony breach of confidentiality to torture my clients," Cohen said. "I wonder whether Judge Burton will assess any sanctions against Mr. May for doing precisely what he falsely accused me of doing."
Published: Tue, Feb 7, 2012
headlines Oakland County
- Associations gather for Spring Fling
- Supreme Court denies rehearing request by attorneys sanctioned for meritless election lawsuit
- Law school conducts ‘Know Your Rights Day’ for high school students
- Oakland County household hazardous waste dropoff events promote environmental stewardship and safeguard communities
- Nessel testifies in support of BRITE Act
headlines National
- Incarceration series includes female inmates but doesn’t tell full story
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Former DOJ official who alleged election fraud violated at least one ethics rule, ethics committee says
- Winston & Strawn will provide reduced-cost legal services for routine tasks under Winston Legal Solutions umbrella
- Should Justice Sotomayor retire? Chemerinsky, White House haven’t joined calls for her to step down
- Which BigLaw firms are increasing lateral associate hiring the most? One made legal headlines last year