A Manhattan man got Bubkas for the holidays — and couldn’t be happier.
Adam LeConte left his beloved Maltese named Bubkas, Yiddish for “nothing,” with ex-girlfriend Kyungmi Lee in August while going on a two-week trip.
When he returned, Lee refused to part with the pooch, so LeConte sued her.
In a ruling made public yesterday, Manhattan Judge Andrea Masley said it was time for Bubkas to go home. LeConte, she said, is “entitled to the return of his canine companion.”
He got the dog as a gift from his parents in 2009, when he and Lee were living together. They “shared care and custody” of Bubkas until the couple broke up on Christmas Eve 2010.
Lee took the dog in for nearly a month while LeConte “sought a suitable home for himself and Bubkas,” the judge’s ruling said.
But after he dropped Bubkas off with Lee in August, according to the ruling, she apparently decided that the dog would be better off with her because LeConte kept Bubkas in a crate.
The judge found that Lee had “failed to show Bubkas was in any danger” from being put in the crate.
She initially ordered alternating weeks of visitation, but she later decided to award sole custody to LeConte.
Despite her ruling, published yesterday in The New York Law Journal, the judge said she hoped “the parties [would] find a way for Bubkas to spend time with both.”
Lee’s lawyer, Ronny Buni, said there was no need for an appeal.
“The parties have amicably settled the dispute over Bubkas” but would prefer to keep the details private, Buni said.