Legal Battle Over Rosa Parks' Estate

Steven Cohen, a Detroit attorney, has asked the Michigan Supreme Court to return Rosa Parks’ estate to her institute, claiming that two attorneys have all but depleted the civil rights pioneer’s assets. Cohen alleges that the two attorneys appointed to oversee Parks’ estate, John Chase Jr. and Melvin Jefferson Jr., received $243,000 in legal fees (almost two-thirds of the value of Parks’ estate).

In the filing Cohen claims that since Parks' death in 2005, "[c]ourt cronies named John Chase Jr. and Melvin Jefferson Jr. ... used their court appointment to create make-work projects and overcharge the estate for a large amount of unnecessary administrative 'work.'"

See, Lawyer: 'Cronies' drained Rosa Parks' estate, MSNBC, Jul. 21, 2011.