A five-star hotel owner has won a ‘totally insane’ 29-year tug-of-war with her family over a purple bag containing her mother’s photographs.
Judith Andersson, 76, and Diane Ward, 77, the widow of her brother Tim, racked up £70,000 in legal fees battling over a family archive of papers and photographs previously possessed by Frieda Ward, which had “no monetary worth.”
The archive was reportedly a vital documentation of her family’s history, as the founders of Jerusalem’s famed American Colony Hotel.
In addition to hosting Lawrence of Arabia, Winston Churchill, and Bob Dylan, the luxury hotel became a popular location for famous visitors to the city.
Following Frieda’s death in London in 1993, the photographs came into the possession of Judith’s brother Tim Ward. However, after he and their other sibling John died within a month of one another, she filed a lawsuit to obtain them.
She filed a lawsuit in the Central London County Court against Tim’s wife Diane and son Peter, as executors of his estate, requesting that they hand her the archive, which was held in a purple suitcase presented to court.
Judith Andersson exits Central London County Court following a hearing over a dispute with Diane Ward over a “purple suitcase” containing family photographs and documents.
Last Thursday, in awarding victory to Judith, Judge Mark Raeside KC stated that Tim had maintained the photographic library in trust for all three siblings and that it was now Judith’s turn to gain from them.
And in a case that another court had previously labeled as “absolutely insane” since it contained objects with “no monetary value,” he ordered Diane and her son Peter to pay the £70,000 lawyers’ bill.
During the trial, the court heard that Frieda was born in Jerusalem, where her grandparents, Horatio Gates Spafford and Anna Spafford, established the American Colony in the late 19th century, centered on a former palace that later became the American Colony Hotel.
In the religiously divided Middle East, the ‘colony’ consisted of ardent American and Swedish Christians who were noted for their charity work with locals of all faiths.
The hotel became a haven for Western tourists and is now viewed as a neutral oasis amid the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It touts itself as one of Jerusalem’s “best boutique hotels” and a “home away from home for discriminating travellers.”
Due to Tim’s bequest, Judith and Diane remain co-owners of the hotel to this day.
Frieda, who had educated as a nurse and lived in Israel, Cyprus, Nigeria, and New York during a fascinating life, passed away at the age of 77 in Hampton Wick, Richmond, west London, in 1993.
Ms. Andersson is now suing her brother’s widow, Diane Ward (pictured), for the luggage, alleging that his family’s refusal to give it to her now was ‘twisted retribution’ for an earlier inheritance dispute.
The ‘purple suitcase’ at the center of the court dispute between Judith Andersson and Diane Ward, as seen outside Central London County Court.
She bequeathed her estate to her three children, Judith, John, and Tim Ward.
Judith, who now resides in the United States, informed Judge Raeside that the ‘archive’ contained in the luggage was’special’ property that was to be treated differently than the rest of their mother’s estate.
She stated that they had decided that all three of them would own the property, but that Tim would take possession initially, with ownership moving to each sibling when the others perished and the property remaining intact within the family.
Jerusalem’s American Colony Hotel: “an oasis of neutrality”
The hotel dates back to the late 19th century, when the devoutly Christian American Spafford family and their friends settled in Jerusalem and purchased the structure.
Originally intended as a palace for a pasha and his four wives, it was frequently converted into a hospital throughout the chaotic years that followed.
The hotel’s proximity to Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate, one of the main entrances to the old city, makes it an ideal location from which to explore Jerusalem’s ancient sites.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus Christ is believed to have been crucified and raised from the dead, is a 20-minute walk from the opulent hotel.
A suite costs £620 per night, while a junior suite costs $500 per night.
A standard room costs between $250 and $300.
Lawrence of Arabia, the painter Marc Chagall, and Sir Winston Churchill are among the guests who have entered its tranquil lobby over the years.
Robert de Niro, Bob Dylan, and Tony Blair have stayed there in recent years. As Middle East peace envoy, Mr. Blair visited the area.
“It was expected that the last surviving member of our group would possess the archive…that the archive would remain with one of us,” she told the judge.
Oliver Ingham, her attorney, described the luggage as a “important storehouse of her family history” and emphasized that it is not a “trivial” matter despite having “no monetary worth.”
In addition, he stated that the archive has “possible historical significance, given the family’s connections to the British presence in Israel.”
He argued that the siblings had agreed that the archive would belong to all of them, regardless of Tim’s initial acquisition of it, and that any of them could request its return.
Tim had refused to provide it to his sister when she requested it, and his widow Diane, who resides near Northampton, has also refused to hand it over, he told the judge.
“It is evident that Judith has spent the better part of the last 29 years taking various measures to gain access to the archive,” he continued.
Elissa Da Costa-Waldman asserted to Diane and Peter that, following Frieda’s passing, the siblings had discussed their mother’s belongings and chosen what each would take, with Tim selecting the papers and photographs in the suitcase.
Judge Raeside determined in a partial ruling at the conclusion of the trial in July that Tim had held the archive in trust for the benefit of all three siblings and that it was not to be divided.
Last week, when he returned to court to decide what should be done with the suitcase, he rejected Diane and Peter’s request to keep one of the photo albums inside.
“The appropriate strategy is to not divide the entire archive,” It has been enjoyed by each of Judith’s siblings during their lifetimes, and now it is Judith’s turn,’ he remarked.
“I direct that Diane and Peter, as co-executors of Tim Ward’s will, deliver the archive to Judith within 21 days and allow her to keep it for her lifetime exclusively.
“Upon the passing of Judith, this archive will be repatriated to the United Kingdom and kept by Diane and Peter, as executors of the estate of Tim Ward. It will therefore return to its rightful location.”
Lawrence of Arabia, Winston Churchill, and Bob Dylan, among others, have stayed at the historic five-star American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem, which was established in 1902.
Both Judith, on one side, and Diane and Peter, on the other, blamed the other for the case going to court and racking up £70,000 in attorney fees.
Mr. Ingham, representing Judith, argued that Diane and Peter had been given multiple opportunities to agree on the fate of the archive outside of court and that they had “behaved unreasonablely”
But Ms Da Costa-Waldman maintained that, because several legal problems had been determined against Judith, the case had resulted in a ‘no-score tie’ and both should pay their own fees.
She said the struggle had been ‘strenuous and stressful’ for Diane, who is a retiree and who has suffered from bad health as a direct result of the pressure of being sued.
She had brought the bag at the centre of the row to court during the trial in the hope that ‘common sense would triumph’ and the row could be settled without a trial.
But landing Diane and Peter with the expenses of the lawsuit, Judge Raeside noted that, although she had not prevailed on all of the legal reasons, Judith had launched the claim to obtain control of the archive and had been successful in that quest.
‘Diane and Peter should pay Judith’s costs,’ he said.
As well as their own £32,800 legal costs, Diane and Peter, as executors of Tim’s estate, will have to pay Judith’s lawyers’ bills, estimated at £37,800, with £30,000 up front.
Judge Nigel Gerald, who sat in on an earlier hearing of the issue, referred to the lawsuit as “absolutely insane” after hearing about the mounting expenditures.