OHIO - The Honorable Civil Judge Sherrie Miday granted a probate court officer’s motion for a protective order against a subpoena in a lawsuit filed by a retired surgeon alleging racketeering in the guardianship of his 85 year old wife who is currently a ward of the state.
Cuyahoga County Civil Judge Miday’s protective order was issued in response to Defendant Zachary B. Simonoff’s request to conceal the release of bank records from outside parties. The bank records relate to the financial activities of Mrs. Fourough Bakhtiar [Saghafi]’s guardianship, according to a press release.
“The court hereby issues an order requiring that any filing in this case attaching or referencing the ward’s confidential information, including but not limited to any financial institution records, be filed under seal,” wrote the Honorable Judge Miday in her Dec. 31 order.
As previously reported, Dr. Mehdi Saghafi, 89, sued a construction company, 8 lawyers, a CPA and Simonoff a year ago after he was allegedly forced to divorce his wife Fourough Bakhtiar [Saghafi], resulting in the division of some $8 million in marital assets.
Court records show that on Nov. 21, 2019, Judge Miday ordered Defendant Simonoff to produce insurance documents that could provide coverage for the claims asserted by Plaintiff Dr. Saghafi. That's because in most states, guardians of the estate or adult person under court appointed guardianship due to cognitive decline, incompetency or physical disability are required to be bonded or insured in the event there are claims, such as the lawsuit that Dr. Saghafi initiated last year.
Dr. Saghafi had been married to Mrs. Saghafi for sixty years until she was placed under court appointed guardianship by the Honorable Lorain County Probate Judge James Walther in 2013. The former couple share five children and ten grandchildren. It was the Honorable Lorain County Probate Judge Walther who appointed Defendant Simonoff as guardian of Mrs. Bakhtiar [Saghafi]’s estate.
However, Dr. Saghafi alleges spending within his wife’s guardianship has been frivolous and unnecessary and that prior court judgments were obtained from the Honorable Lorain County Probate Judge Walther improperly and without jurisdiction.
According to court records, the Honorable Lorain County Probate Judge Walther was served a subpoena duces tecum requiring him to arrive to Cuyahoga County Civil Court of Common Pleas on Sept. 16, 2019 with relevant documents. Duties of the Lorain County Probate Court Clerk are fulfilled by the Honorable Judge Walther himself and when he missed the deadline, Dr. Saghafi’s attorney Chuck Longo filed a Motion to Show Cause as to why the Honorable Judge Walther should not be held in contempt.
“This Court has inherent and rule based authority to hold Judge Walther, and by extension the Lorain County Probate Court, in contempt for their failure to comply with the Subpoena; equally, this Court has the authority to order Judge Walther to show cause [as to] why he should not be in contempt for the compliance failure,” stated Longo in Saghafi's pleading.
The Honorable Judge Walther’s request to extend time to answer the Motion to Show Cause as to why he should not be held in contempt for failure to respond to Dr. Saghafi’s subpoena was granted by the Honorable Judge Miday, also on Dec. 31.
“Lorain County Probate Court Judge James T. Walther is to respond to plaintiff’s Motion to Show Cause why the Lorain County Probate Clerk should not be held in contempt for failure to respond to subpoena [filed on Nov. 21, 2019] on or before Jan. 3, 2020,” states Honorable Judge Miday’s order.
The deadline for discovery in the litigation was extended until May 1, 2020.