Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterHELGA STOECKERT, co-owner of the Four Seasons Hotel, Ruthven Road in St. Andrew, has lost her final legal battle to recover millions of dollars from the estate of her former lover, the late Paul H. Geddes, co-founder of Desnoes and Geddes (now Red Stripe Ltd.).
Ms. Stoeckert, who came to national prominence in 1992, had created history by being the first person to file a palimony suit in Jamaica.
Her final legal battle, how-ever, ended yesterday when the United Kingdom based Privy Council dismissed her appeal in which she claimed to be entitled to the £200,000 (J$14 million) in joint accounts at a bank in England in her name and that of Mr. Geddes. She was ordered to pay the respondent's legal costs before the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council.
Ms. Stoeckert, 69, had appealed against a Court of Appeal ruling in 2002 that she was not entitled to the money.
The Supreme Court had ruled in August 2002 that the money belonged to the Geddes estate and the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling.
INTERPRET THE MANDATE
She had asked the Privy Council to interpret the mandate in relation to the joint account at the bank. Ms. Stoeckert, who was represented by attorney-at-law Crafton Miller, claimed that the accounts had been opened for "their benefit and not
for convenience." She was
seeking to claim the money by survivorship.
Attorney-at-law Michele Champagnie, instructed by the law firm Myers, Fletcher and Gordon, argued on behalf of the Geddes estate that there was no common intention that Ms. Stoeckert was to have a beneficial interest in the money. She said the Privy Council should not disturb the Court of Appeal's ruling.
Margie Geddes, the widow of Mr. Geddes and executrix of the estate, was named as respondent to the appeal.
Mr. Geddes and Ms. Stoeckert were lovers for 32 years, when he ended the relationship in April 1991 and later that year, married Margie Piper, an American who was 36 years old then.
In 1992, Ms. Stoeckert filed a palimony suit against Mr. Geddes, contending that there was an agreement, arrangement, understanding or common intention between her and Mr. Geddes that she should have a beneficial interest in his assets. Mr. Geddes denied that there was any such intention.
UK PRIVY COUNCIL
The Supreme Court awarded Ms. Stoeckert one-sixth of Mr. Geddes' assets. Mr. Geddes appealed and won. Ms. Stoeckert took the matter to the U.K. Privy Council, which ruled that she was not entitled to any of the assets. The Privy Council did not make any ruling in relation to the money in the bank account in London and the bank sought clarification on the issue when Ms. Stoeckert sought to claim the money.
Mr. Geddes, one of the creators of the world-famous Red Stripe beer, died in June 1999 at age 89, leaving his widow, Margie, as the executrix of his $600-million estate.
