Pear defends himself in relatives' squabble Pear defends himself in relatives' squabble (December 03, 2004)

Attorney questions plaintiffs' motives

By Jon Wiener

Mayor Matt Pear launched his legal defense this week in a civil dispute after lawyers for his cousin and aunt wrapped up their third day of questioning.

Pear is accused of billing excessive fees to his family members for managing property held in various family trusts. Bernadine Pear, his aunt, said that he charged those fees, including back charges, in order to force her to sell her share of the property to him at a discounted rate.

The trust properties have been in the Pear family for nearly a century. They include Matt Pear's Ortega Avenue home and the lot where Target is located, among others.

They are collectively worth millions of dollars, although the exact amount is disputed. Matt Pear owns a one-eighth stake in the family land.

Matt Pear testified on Tuesday that the hours he billed for real estate consulting and other services were actually much less than the time he actually spent dealing with the property. His defense attorney, Michael Desmarais, argued that the fees were entirely reasonable.

Visibly frustrated on Tuesday, Desmarais criticized the other side for dragging out the case for more than two weeks. The trial is expected to end next week.

"This is a tragic misuse of judicial resources," he said. According to Desmarais, Bernadine Pear has spent $500,000 on legal fees pursuing the case. Her daughter, Cynthia Brenneke, is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

"The only reason you guys are here is to embarrass [Matt Pear]," Desmarais told reporters, alluding to the anonymous caller who alerted them that Pear was scheduled to testify. "The guy's as straight a shooter as you're going to find. He's as honest as the day is long."

Judge Catherine Gallagher will decide whether Pear needs to reimburse the trust for all or part of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees, as well as what should happen to the Ortega Avenue property where he lives. Pear has lived there rent-free since 2001 under an informal agreement with his father and late uncle.

Bernadine Pear said she now either wants him to pay rent or move out and sell the property. But in a deposition taken over a year and a half ago, she said she wanted the property to remain in the family.

Bernadine Pear originally offered to sell her quarter share of the trust property for $4 million in 1997, when her husband Joseph died.

Along with his father and brother, the other owners of the trust property, Matt Pear countered with an offer of $1.7 million. The case has been in the court system ever since. Four separate settlement hearings have failed to resolve the dispute.

Before his uncle's death, Pear testified, he was compensated for his management of the property in football tickets and groceries. He said he starting charging the fees only so that the costs of maintaining the property were taken into account in any buyout.

"Prior to Joe's death, this was a family-run, informal operation," Pear said on the stand, referring to the 1997 death of his uncle. Matt Pear and his brother Mark inherited their trust property from their uncle Joseph. "Prior to that it was family."

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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