R. Samuels, Weingart Conservatorship Foe, Dies

Ralph Samuels, the feisty Canadian lawyer who for years unsuccessfully fought judges and lawyers over what he said was the forcing of real estate tycoon Ben Weingart into a conservatorship, died Tuesday. He was 75.

Samuels, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, became ill last Saturday and was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Hospital where he died from a heart attack, a hospital spokesman said.

For years, Samuels relentlessly investigated the Weingart conservatorship on behalf of Weingart’s longtime companion, Laura Winston, who still is battling for what she claims is her fair share of the Weingart fortune.

Weingart was a financier and philanthropist who was credited with creating the city of Lakewood. He died in December, 1980, at the age of 92. His worth then was estimated at $200 million.

Six years earlier, his former business associates, Sol Price, now of San Diego, and William Poag, now retired in Hawaii, convinced a Los Angeles Superior Court judge that Weingart was mentally unfit to handle his business affairs and had him placed in a conservatorship. Then, Price and Poag became his conservators and helped administer the Weingart estate.

Winston, through Samuels, mounted a series of court challenges about Weingart’s care during the conservatorship and her share of the estate.

Samuels always referred to himself as a student of English common law. He would spend hours poring over law books in the downtown Los Angeles County Law Library researching the complex Weingart case.

His other “home” was a cubbyhole office in Beverly Hills, cluttered with boxes of court transcripts, depositions and documents. “This is my war room,” the short, stocky Samuels would thunder.

As a result of his prodding, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office investigated the Weingart conservatorship in 1981 but found no wrongdoing.

The irascible Samuels could infuriate judges and the armies of high-priced lawyers he almost single-handedly fought in the Weingart case through his outspoken, aggressive manner and his lengthy briefs that more often smacked of Chaucer than modern legal prose.

Once, he was thrown out of a courtroom for audibly telling Winston that a probate judge was biased. Polite in his own way, Samuels stood up, said, “Thank you, good morning,” and left.

Los Angeles attorney Michael Larin, who in recent years worked with Samuels on behalf of Winston’s claims, believes Samuels “was so taken up with this case because the same thing happened to him.”

That was a reference to the fact that Samuels’ brother, Arthur, years ago succeeded in temporarily placing Samuels in a conservatorship in Canada. The two never spoke to one another after that.

A longtime adversary in the Weingart case, investigator Michael Quinn, said he grudgingly respected Samuels.

“We all loved him,” Quinn said, “because he was so gung-ho for Lady Justice.”

Samuels is survived by his brother and a sister, Gertrude of Israel. Funeral services are pending.