In 2007, then 12-year old Jordan Zeidman, now finishing his second year at NYU’s dental school, failed to invite his mother and Baba (maternal grandmother) to his Bar Mitzvah, so they went ahead and crashed it anyway. But that wasn’t their last mistake. As Jordan would testify several years later, Baba took the opportunity to say these fateful words to her grandson in the synagogue:

I have $5,000 for you. Just like I gave to your brother, and sister. And I’m going to give it to your mom to hold for you.

Jordan never got Baba’s $5,000 from his mother, so seven years later he sued her and won (without actual evidence that Jordan’s mother had ever received $5,000 from Baba for Jordan). But it wasn’t about the money. At least that’s what Jordan’s lawyer Steven Cohn told Yahoo Parenting:

“In order for Jordan to get closure, he wanted to hold his mother accountable for taking his money, because she took a whole lot more from him than just that,” says Cohn. “He had a difficult time being in the same courtroom as her.”

The case has been going on for a year and a half, Cohn says, who adds that Tuesday’s [August 25, 2015] verdict was validating for his client, who still has a great relationship with his father. “I think this was Jordan’s way of letting his mother know he still exists and he still has anger,” Cohn says. “I honestly don’t think it was really about the money, only a byproduct of what he felt he needed to do for himself. I think for Jordan this verdict meant a lot.”

Jordan’s father, Dr. Andrew Zeidman, DDS, who couldn’t resist celebrating his son’s legal victory in the comments section of Yahoo Parenting, agreed with Cohn. In response to a suggestion that in exchange for a paltry $5,000 Jordan had lost “a lifetime parent,” Dr. Zeidman wrote:

This is Jordan’s dad. He lost a cancer. We all did. And couldn’t be happier.

But it was never likely that Dr. Zeidman would disagree with his own divorce lawyer. From New York Law Journal:

[Steven] Cohn represents Andrew Zeidman in [] post-matrimonial proceedings. He said the issue is not directly related with Jordan Zeidman’s case, but he said Andrew Zeidman was involved in bringing Jordan Zeidman’s case to court. “If your kid is having emotional problems dealing with his mother, wouldn’t you work with your son?” Cohn asked.