Doorman From Rego Park Says Late Resident Promised Him Fortune

REGO PARK, QUEENS — Jose Rafael Padilla lives in Rego Park, but for more than two dozen years he has commuted to 14 Sutton Place South on the Upper East Side, where he works as a doorman.

It's in that upscale Manhattan enclave that Padilla became close with late resident James Clayton Larmett, helping him and his wife, Linda, move into the building even caring for the couple's pets.

As of Wednesday, however, Padilla is suing Larmett's estate for a chunk of money that he says the deceased man promised to him, according to a new lawsuit. (The New York Post first reported on the suit.)

Before Linda's death in 2016, Padilla said she asked him to promised that he would care for her husband once she was no longer around. To that end, Larmett entrusted Padilla with his health care proxy and power of attorney, the doorman said.

"I would care for him every day, and would sleep over at his apartment on numerous occasions until an appropriate aid could be hired to help care for him during the day," Padilla claims in the suit.

In May 2020, while with Larmett in his apartment, the resident told Padilla he would entrust one-fourth of his estate to the doorman "in consideration for all the help I had given him over the past twenty-eight years," Padilla says. By January 20201, Larmett raised that figure to one-third.

But Larmett's will was never amended before his death on Feb. 15 of this year. In July, Padilla contacted the estate's executor, a Los Angeles resident, to demand his fair share, but the claim was rebuffed, he says.

Now, Padilla is alleging a breach of contract, demanding an accounting to determine Larmett's overall estate value and a judgment awarding him one-third of the total.

Patch Editor Nick Garber contributed to this report.