Judge, Husband Settle Bankruptcy Dispute

A prominent Summerville lawyer and his wife, a Circuit Court Judge, will pay a combined $500,000 to settle a lawsuit that claimed the pair improperly transferred real estate holdings that were tied up in a $61 million bankruptcy. Arnold S. Goodstein and his wife, Circuit Court Judge Diane S. Goodstein, agreed to pay the settlement, but they have not admitted guilt and they continue to dispute the trustee's claims, according to the terms of a settlement filed in U.S. District Bankruptcy Court last week. The case is associated with a 2010 bankruptcy in which Arnold Goodstein's real estate empire collapsed. The trustee overseeing the repayment of more than $61 million in Goodstein's debt alleged that the Goldstein's improperly transferred property that was involved in the bankruptcy. The transfers, termed "fraud" in the settlement, were roughly $2 million below fair value, the settlement states. The sale of property between relatives is permissible during a bankruptcy, but the trustee has the right to review what's fair value. The settlement allows the Goodstein's and the trustee from going to trial on the matter. The trustee was seeking $2 million for the improper land swap, but a trial would have prolonged the already complex bankruptcy and cost the state even more money, the trustee wrote in her filing with the bankruptcy court. Read more at http://summerville.patch.com/articles/judge-husband-settle-bankruptcy-dispute