Children of Casey Kasem settle lawsuit with widow over death

Jean and Casey Kasem on Nov. 10, 2003, at the
Beverly Hills Hotel  in Beverly Hills, Calif.
(Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES — Family members of radio personality Casey Kasem have settled dueling lawsuits alleging that the longtime “American Top 40” host was badly mistreated before his death in 2014.

The two sides filed a joint request Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit by three of Kasem’s children and his brother against Kasem’s widow that claimed her neglect and physical abuse led to his death, as well as a countersuit making similar claims against the plaintiffs that was filed by his widow and another daughter. The terms of the agreement were not revealed, and attorneys did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Kerri Kasem, one of the daughters who filed the initial lawsuit, released a statement through a spokesman Tuesday saying she was “distraught and heartbroken over her family and lawyers’ decision to force her into a settlement.”

The first lawsuit was filed four years ago by Casey Kasem’s children from a previous marriage, Kerri, Julie and Michael Kasem, and his brother Mouner Kasem. It was a lingering chapter in a series of heated and often public fights between his children and his second wife, former actress Jean Kasem, that began even before his death at age 82.

The wrongful death lawsuit accused Jean Kasem, who was married to Casey Kasem for 34 years, of elder abuse and of inflicting emotional distress on his children by restricting their access to him before his death.

It alleged that “Casey’s early death occurred as a direct and proximate result of Jean’s neglect and physical abuse.”

Jean Kasem denied all of the allegations. She counter-sued and alleged that Casey Kasem’s children were motivated by their desire to get his money after he cut them off financially in 2012, and that they had brought emotional distress to her and her father, claims they denied.

The two sides fought bitterly over access to Kasem and control of his medical care before he died in Gig Harbor, Washington, where Jean Kasem had taken him from Los Angeles.

Police and prosecutors in California and Washington investigated his treatment and death and found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Best known as the voice of radio’s “American Top 40” for decades and for his sign-off catchphrase, “Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars,” Kasem was also a constant on television as a host of shows and specials and as the voice of animated characters that included Shaggy in the “Scooby-Doo” TV cartoons.

Full Article & Source:
Children of Casey Kasem settle lawsuit with widow over death

See Also:
Jean Kasem files wrongful death and fraud suit in Washington, against Casey Kasem’s Adult Children

Casey Kasem's Widow Sued for Wrongful Death

This Saturday Night on CBS' "48 Hours": FAMILY FEUD ERUPTS OVER CASEY KASEM'S FORTUNE,YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH

The feud between Casey Kasem's wife and children intensifies amid questions over his death

More than four years after radio legend Casey Kasem died, his wife Jean Kasem reveals to "48 Hours" for the first time her version of her husband's final days, levels allegations of murder in a lawsuit and discusses a heated family feud. "The Mysterious Death of Casey Kasem" will broadcast Saturday, Nov. 24, on CBS.

At the top of his career, Kasem was heard by millions around the world as the host of the music countdown show, "American Top 40," and as the voice of "Shaggy" in the cartoon classic "Scooby Doo."

But toward the end of his life, his family made headlines over an ongoing dispute between Kasem's children from his first wife, and Jean Kasem, his second wife. After his death on Father's Day in 2014, the feud escalated as both sides accused each other of contributing to his death, and they battled over his estate and final resting place.

"They killed my husband," Jean Kasem told "48 Hours'" Peter Van Sant. "They killed their father."

"Jean killed my father," counters Kerri Kasem, one of Kasem's three adult children, adding, "what she did led to his death."

Source:
FAMILY FEUD ERUPTS OVER CASEY KASEM'S FORTUNE,YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH

See Also:
Casey Kasem's Death Now an Active Murder Investigation

Here's What's in the Documents That are Prompting a New Look into Casey Kasem's Death

Source:48 Hours Investigates Casey Kasem's Death, Family Battle Goes Nuclear

Press Release: Jean Kasem, Widow of Radio/Television Icon Casey Kasem, Files Lawsuit Against Kasem's Adult Children and Others for Wrongful Death, Negligence and Fraud

Suit details willful starvation and dehydration of Casey Kasem, which caused his death in 2014; complaint outlines pattern of wire fraud and bogus elder abuse claims about Jean Kasem, repeatedly found to be unsubstantiated by law enforcement, protective services and doctors.

SEATTLE and LOS ANGELES, July 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Jean Kasem, widow of legendary radio DJ and pop culture icon Casey Kasem, has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington state, accusing three of her late husband's adult children from a prior relationship 40 years ago, of conspiring to seize control of Casey through a "homicidal guardianship scam." The suit alleges that the adult children – Kerri, Mike and Julie Kasem, along with Julie's husband and their attorney Troy Martin – chemically restrained Casey Kasem and then caused his death to go after Casey and Jean's financial assets.

Also named as a defendant is Catholic Health Initiatives, one of the nation's largest healthcare systems, which owns and operates the facility where Kasem died.

Casey Kasem was "pronounced" dead at 3:23 am, June 15, 2014, at St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, Seattle, seeks damages for, among other things, "the conscious pain, suffering, anxiety and fear of impending death experienced by Casey Kasem."

The complaint alleges that Casey Kasem was criminally separated from his legal family of 35 years against his will and subjected to a forced, isolated hospital entrapment. It asserts that Kasem's adult children, using a fraudulent Durable Power of Attorney, made a series of rapid, unilateral decisions to terminate his life, completely ignoring his wife's desperate pleas and without any authorization by Washington State Judge Jennifer Irvine Forbes.

According to the complaint, Jean Kasem's husband was forcibly taken by his 44-year-old daughter Kerri to St. Anthony on June 1, 2014 for an "independent medical evaluation." St. Anthony hospital's examining physician, attended by Casey's personal physician, Dr. Donald Sharman, cleared Casey to be returned to the care he was receiving at home. St. Anthony Hospital's examining physician stated in his written medical report, "His {Casey Kasem's} current care plan and management in his current home has been appropriate today. Dr. Sharman's recommendations and availability have been excellent and timely."

The evaluation concluded at around 6:00 pm on June 1, but Casey was not returned home to his wife as intended. Instead, the complaint alleges that Kerri Kasem's attorney contacted St. Anthony Hospital's examining physician and fabricated an excuse for an "overnight observation," which was not authorized by Judge Forbes. As a result, Casey was held against his will at St. Anthony Hospital.

On June 2, 2014, Judge Forbes read St. Anthony Hospital's examining physician's report and found "no compelling argument from the doctor in the report that he {Casey} needed to stay in the hospital." She then authorized that Casey be immediately returned home to his wife.

Concurrently, Dr. Sharman and Jean Kasem called St. Anthony and were informed by the attending physician that, "Casey Kasem's medical evaluation had concluded and his overnight observation went well, he is discharged and you can come pick him up."

That afternoon when Jean, Dr. Sharman, Casey's private nurse and one of Jean's attorneys arrived at St. Anthony Hospital with medical transport to pick Casey up and bring him back home, they were stalled for hours by hospital staff.

According to the complaint, St. Anthony Hospital's attending physician, who previously told Dr. Sharman and Jean Kasem that "Casey was discharged," reversed himself, saying Casey would not be discharged. He also could not explain to Dr. Sharman and Jean why Casey needed to remain in the hospital. Kerri Kasem's attorney then screamed, "Casey is not leaving the hospital period!" From that day forward, Dr. Sharman, along with Casey's private nurse, Jean, her attorneys and Liberty Kasem were all banned from St. Anthony.

Full Press Release and Source:
Jean Kasem, Widow of Radio/Television Icon Casey Kasem, Files Lawsuit Against Kasem's Adult Children and Others for Wrongful Death, Negligence and Fraud

Casey Kasem's Widow Alleges 'Human Trafficking' in Grievance Against Tacoma Attorney, Scott Winship

Fallout from the fight between Casey Kasem’s widow and three of the radio personality’s adult children has reached the Washington State Bar Association.

Jeannie Kasem said Thursday she filed a grievance with the bar this week, alleging that Tacoma attorney Scott Winship was part of “racketeering” to “human traffic” her husband before his death in June 2014.

Winship did not return phone or email messages from The News Tribune on Thursday.
He represented Kerri Kasem, Casey Kasem’s daughter from another marriage, after Jeannie Kasem moved her husband from California to Silverdale in 2014.

The children from the previous marriage feuded with their father’s wife about his care and access to the “American Top 40” host as his health worsened, until he died at a Gig Harbor Hospital at age 82.

A court ultimately gave Kerri Kasem authority over her father’s health-care decisions, as he suffered from a condition called Lewy Body dementia.

Jeannie Kasem filed a wrongful death suit against the three children and others last month in U.S. District Court in Washington.

The suit and the bar grievance allege Casey Kasem died as part of a “homicidal guardianship scam.”

She alleges in the grievance that Winship “misled” a Kitsap County judge, who allowed Casey Kasem to be taken from Silverdale to St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor for a medical evaluation, where he later died.

“Scott Winship was racketeering with Los Angeles attorneys to human traffic Casey Kasem for commercial gain through their depraved homicidal guardianship scam,” the grievance states.

It also says the court-ordered medical evaluation was done by a doctor who is married to Winship’s paralegal.

Kerri Kasem told the Los Angeles Times last month that the actions the children took were court-ordered, and that the suit was a ploy for media attention.

“For her to say we unplugged him — we tried everything we could to save him,” she said of allegations in the lawsuit. “These lies are so awful. It’s so awful to hear this.”

Asked why she filed the grievance against Winship, Jeannie Kasem said Thursday: “The Bar Association is very powerful. And they operate and police their own, so they say. It’s important to speak out and to tell the truth as to what happens to somebody when an attorney acts the way that Scott Winship did.”

Full Article and Source:
Casey Kasem's Widow Alleges "Human Trafficking" in Grievance Against Tacoma Attorney, Scott Winship

Jean Kasem files wrongful death and fraud suit in Washington, against Casey Kasem’s Adult Children

The widow of Casey Kasem has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the radio personality’s three adult children from a prior relationship 40 years ago. Jean Kasem states that Kerri, Mike and Julie Kasem, along with Julie’s husband and their attorney Troy Martin, perpetrated a “homicidal guardianship scam” and, per a statement, “forcefully entrapped and chemically restrained her husband in St Anthony Hospital and then killed him to go after Casey and Jean’s financial assets,” which is exactly what they are doing now.

Jean Kasem has also accused the Kasem adult children of extreme harassment and making numerous fraudulent statements to authorities, as part of their scam to gain guardianship control over Kasem.

Kasem was “pronounced” dead on June 15th, 2014 at St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington. According to Jean Kasem’s new suit, Kerri picked up her husband at their host family home on June 1st and forcefully took him against his will to St. Anthony Hospital, even though there was a hospital one block away and instead of a Doctor making a house call. Kasem was accompanied to the hospital by his personal physician, Dr. Donald Sharman, but was examined at St. Anthony by Dr. Joseph Regimbal, who reportedly cleared Kasem and praised the care being administered to him at home.

The suit claims that Kerri Kasem then kept her husband at St. Anthony for an “unauthorized overnight observation.” On June 2nd, an attending physician at St. Anthony, Dr. Ramon Basa, reportedly told Jean and Dr. Sharman that Casey could go home, while a judge also ruled that there was no compelling reason to keep Kasem in the hospital. But when Jean arrived to pick up Kasem, Dr. Basa had changed his mind and Kasem was kept entrapped in St. Anthony.

By June 6th, Jean Kasem and her daughter Liberty were reportedly told that Kasem’s adult children had “already begun the process” of withdrawing and withholding Casey Kasem’s hydration, nutrition and all proactive medical care” against Jean’s will or any authorization by Washington state judge Jennifer Forbes. Per the suit, Jean and Liberty were only given five minutes to see Casey before his death, were then told to leave his room and finally escorted out of the hospital chapel.

Jean Kasem’s new suit alleges that the Kasem adult children were able to gain guardianship over their father through a fraudulent media scam and a fraudulent Durable Power of Attorney document that Kasem purportedly signed in 2007 “at a UPS store on Hollywood Blvd., under duress and undue influence.” At the time, Kasem was allegedly without his attorney and on medication while recovering from a recent surgery.

Kerri Kasem and her lawyer, Troy Martin, argue that Jean Kasem’s new suit is an attempt to stall a wrongful death lawsuit the Kasem adult children filed against Jean and Liberty in 2015.

Full Article and Source:
Jean Kasem files wrongful death and fraud suit in Washington, against Casey Kasem’s Adult Children

See Also:
Casey Kasem's Widow Sued for Wrongful Death