East Side Doorman's Claim To Dead Resident's Fortune Challenged

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — In the latest twist of an ongoing estate lawsuit, defense lawyers are rejecting what a doorman says is proof that a late resident of his East Side building promised him millions.

Jose Rafael Padilla, a doorman at 14 Sutton Place South, near East 56th Street, says that two Legal Shield documents from 2020 and 2021 prove that late resident James Clayton Larmett intended to give him one-third of his fortune: the subject of a lawsuit that Padilla first filed in September.

Larmett's fortune amounted to millions, including a $1.8 million home, $23,000 in bank accounts, at least one car, and a life-insurance policy, the will questionnaire documents show.

Lawyers for the estate, however, rejected Padilla's documents on Thursday, contending that the will questionnaires are non-binding.

"The form explicitly states that the Questionnaire 'is NOT your will,'" the lawyers wrote in a motion to dismiss the case filed on Thursday; the second such motion that they've filed since the suit began.

Instead, estate lawyers submitted Larmett's will — dated Feb. 19, 2016 — as the binding agreement for how the resident wanted to distribute the assets of his estate. According to the 2016 will, Larmett wanted to split his fortune between three animal charities.

Padilla's lawyer, Stephen Weiss, has acknowledged in past court documents that the will questionnaires don't "spell out the contract," but he says that there is "no ambiguity in their intent."

"The decedent [Larmett] had completed and signed both of these forms, and had asked Mr. Padilla to submit them on his behalf to Legal Shield," he said, noting that COVID-19 restrictions hindered Padilla's ability to follow through on those actions — a point that Padilla himself made in a previously filed affidavit.

“Due to illness along with the advent of the COVID-19 restrictions, wills were not prepared and executed as per the will questionnaire submitted to Legal Shield,” reads Padilla’s affidavit, which was filed alongside the two will questionnaires.

In the original suit, Padilla says he'd been close with the Larmetts — James and Linda — for over two decades, even taking care of the couple's pets and tending to James overnight after his wife died and before a health aide was hired.

In January of this year, the elderly resident promised Padilla one-third of his fortune, but his will wasn't amended before his death in Feb., the suit contends.

Larmett's estate lawyer, Richard J. Miller, told The New York Post that Padilla's documents don't meet the high bar for what New York State deems a valid will, including needing independent witnesses present. (The Post first reported on the suit.)

“The documents that Mr. Padilla is submitting — which he alleges were completed by Mr. Larmett — do not meet any of these threshold requirements and as such leave numerous answers to be desired, including issues that may range from not only authenticity but to mental capacity or even undue influence,” Miller said.

The lawyer added that the ongoing litigation takes away money that Larmett bequeathed to animal charities.

“This claim that Mr. Padilla is making and the fact that we are in litigation does an incredible disservice to the charitable remainder beneficiaries,” Miller said. “All that Mr. Padilla’s claims are doing is increasing … time, expense and the lack of the assets in the hands of the beneficiaries.”

Previous coverage: East Side Doorman Says Deceased Resident Had Promised Him Fortune