Attorney can remain on case
BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - Drew Shapiro will be able to retain attorney Eric Abraham as his legal counsel in an ongoing business dispute involving himself and his father, Murry Shapiro.

State Superior Court Judge Terence P. Flynn, sitting in Freehold, denied an attempt by attorney Stuart Moskovitz to bar Abraham from continuing to represent Drew Shapiro in the civil litigation.

Moskovitz represents Murry Shapiro.

Drew Shapiro and Moskovitz are former members of the Manalapan Township Committee and political adversaries. Shapiro is running for a three-year term on the committee in the Nov. 6 election.

Drew Shapiro is attempting to evict Murry Shapiro and his business from a building he (Drew Shapiro) owns at 6 Throckmorton St., Freehold. Drew Shapiro is a former officer of Heirloom 73, a company founded by Murry Shapiro.

Drew Shapiro resigned from his position as a vice president of Heirloom 73. Following his resignation from his father's company, Drew Shapiro moved to evict that business from the Throckmorton Street building, asserting that his father has not paid rent for space in the building.

Moskovitz moved to have Abraham removed as Drew Shapiro's attorney by asserting that since Shapiro had been an officer of Heirloom 73 and since Abraham represented Drew Shapiro when he served as an officer of the company, Abraham could not now represent Shapiro in a matter adverse to the firm.

Speaking about Abraham's legal appearance in any matter involving Heirloom 73, Moskovitz told Flynn at an Oct. 5 hearing, "If you're representing an officer of the company in a capacity as an officer for the corporation, you're representing the corporation and that's what we have here."

Flynn disagreed and told Moskovitz it was clear from all of Abraham's written correspondence to anyone involved in any aspect of Heirloom 73 or in any part of the dissolution of business relations between Drew and Murry Shapiro that Abraham had disclosed up front that he represented Drew Shapiro's interests in the matter.

Moskovitz had also claimed that Abraham had been given access to company credit card information he would not have received if he had not moved to obtain them under the "guise" of acting as a corporate counsel.

Flynn chided Moskovitz regarding the "sinister" implication of the word guise, noting, "the factual points of the matter entitled Abraham to the information he got."

"It was always apparent that Eric Abraham was acting on Drew Shapiro's behalf and he (Abraham) did not access information he shouldn't have," Flynn said.