£60,000 row over ‘worthless’ suitcase
Completely mad! What judge said about legal battle between owners of five-star hotel over family photos and papers
THE owners of a five-star hotel have been called ‘completely mad’ by a judge after blowing £60,000 fighting in court over keepsake photos.
The battle pits Judith Andersson against her sister-in-law Diane Ward, part owners of The American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem whose guests have included Winston Churchill and Bob Dylan.
Both women claim ownership of a suitcase containing family pictures and other memorabilia that belonged to Mrs Andersson’s late mother, Frieda Ward. Mrs Andersson describes the suitcase as an ‘archive’ that had been kept by her brother Tim for 27 years until his death in 2020.
The 76-year-old is suing her brother’s widow for the purple case, which sat on the Central London County Court floor throughout a two-day hearing last week.
She claims his family’s refusal to let her have it was part of her brother’s ‘twisted retribution’ following an inheritance row.
In a case that has racked up £60,000 in legal costs, Mrs Andersson says the suitcase should be handed to her, since her brothers Tim and John are dead. The court heard that the photos and papers had ‘no monetary value’ and at a previous hearing the row was described as ‘completely mad’ by Judge Nigel Gerald.
Frieda was born in Jerusalem, where her grandparents Horatio Gates Spafford and Anna Spaf
ford formed The American Colony in the late 19th century, centred around a former palace. In 1902, it became a hotel that was a haven for Western travellers and is seen today as an ‘oasis of neutrality’ in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Frieda left her estate to her three children when she died in London in 1993.
Mrs Andersson, who lives in the United States, told the court the suitcase was to be passed through the family on the death of each sibling. ‘It was specifically anticipated that the last one of us remaining alive would hold the archive,’ she insisted.
But Mrs Ward, 77, who lives near Northampton, denied that there had been any such agreement.
‘It is clear that personal effects such as are claimed here cannot physically be shared equally,’ said her barrister, Elissa Da Costa-Waldman.
Judge Mark Raeside declared the archive had been held on trust by Tim for the benefit of all three siblings. He will decide on the fate of the case – and who pays the legal costs – later this month.