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Estate Of Heiress Huguette Clark Will Not Get $95 Million From Beth Israel, Judge Rules
By
Emma Whitford
Published Aug 24, 2015
Modified Aug 24, 2015
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By
Emma Whitford
Published Aug 24, 2015
Modified Aug 24, 2015
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When reclusive, Gilded Age heiress Huguette Clark passed away in May 2011 at the age of 104, it was not inside her mysterious and massive 5th Avenue apartment overflowing with Victorian dolls, but rather in a bed at Beth Israel Hospital—her home for just shy of two decades, despite her relative health.
Back in 2013, Clark's estate—executed by attorney John Morken and made up of nineteen of Huguette's distant relatives, a private foundation in Huguette's name, and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C.—filed suit against Beth Israel for $95 million. According to the suit, the hospital had charged the millionaire heiress hundreds of thousands of dollars for care that wasn't necessary (it has been heavily reported that Clark refused to leave the hospital and was there of her own free will), and syphoned thousands more by fostering fake friendships with her. Now the NY Post is reporting that Manhattan Surrogate Court Justice Nora Anderson dismissed the suit last week, on the grounds that the statute of limitations had run out.
"We are hopeful that Beth Israel Medical Center... will ultimately answer for its prolonged and rampant financial exploitation of Huguette Clark," one of her relatives told the paper, following the decision.
In life, Clark, who was worth an estimated $500 million and was fond of writing multiple massive checks in a single day to mere acquaintances, was the source of much handwringing from her family members—especially when one version of her will bestowed $34 million to her nurse, $500,000 each to her lawyer and accountant, and $0 to her blood relations. It's worth noting that Clark's descendants—including grandnephews, grandnieces, great-grandnephews and great-grandnieces—did not visit her much towards the end of her days.
Still, since her death, they have done their best to wrestle back their deceased relative's fortune in the courts. For example, a 2011 court filing posited that Clark's lawyer, Wallace Bock, and her accountant, Irving Kamsler, "took control of [Clark's] life, isolated her from family, and ultimately stripped her of her free will, as well as millions of dollars." And in 2013, the two parties entered settlement talks over $300 million—that suite was settled, leaving $34.5 million to twenty of Clark's distant relatives, $11.5 million to her lawyers, and $1 million to Beth Israel.
Tagged
beth israel
fortunes
gilded age
huguette clark
shut-ins
Emma Whitford
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