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Son and daughter assert ownership Pair say they will decide on Ted Williams's body By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff, 7/18/2002
The papers mark the Williams family's first official court filing in the legal struggle over whether the Red Sox legend should be cremated, as specified in his will, or remain cryonically frozen, as two of his three children contend he ultimately wanted. Williams's executor, real-estate developer Albert Cassidy, filed the will on Tuesday and asked a court here to sort out the conflict. Cassidy supports the decision by the two Williams siblings to send their father to an Arizona cryonics warehouse for indefinite deep freeze, but wants court approval. Yesterday John Henry and Claudia Williams declared in court papers that their father's body does not technically belong to the estate and is thus their property, rather than Cassidy's or the court's. Williams's 1996 will stated that he wished to ''be cremated and my ashes sprinkled at sea off the coast of Florida where the water is very deep.'' Williams's estate, represented by Cassidy, also filed papers that day explaining that Williams later changed his mind in favor of the cryonics plan that was carried out just hours after his July 5 death. But so far neither the estate or the family has produced any documents signed by Williams supporting their position. The lawyer for John Henry and Claudia Williams would not comment on whether such papers exist. ''I cannot discuss anything that may or may not be filed in a future court proceeding,'' said lawyer Robert Goldman. The headline-grabbing feud has now entered a slow-burn phase, as the three teams of lawyers prepare for the numerous back-and-forth legal motions that form the initial stages of civil court cases, a process that could last months. In a court document attached to yesterday's paperwork, John Henry and Claudia Williams called on a judge to force talks between them and Williams's oldest daughter, Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, who wants her father cremated. An intensive eight-hour negotiation session three days ago failed to produce results. Ferrell's lawyers have said the difficulty lies in finding middle ground between deep freeze and cremation. ''There's middle ground everywhere. Now, this is a difficult case to find it in,'' said Ferrell's Inverness-based lawyer, Richard Fitzpatrick. The mystery of the moment is what, if any, proof John Henry and Claudia Williams have that the Red Sox legend came to support cryonics during the last years of his life. The documents they filed yesterday said only that ''we know this to be true; it is not merely a belief.'' But John Henry and Claudia Williams are clear about their desire for Cassidy, who Ted Williams named the personal representative of his estate, to remove himself from the current controversy: ''The disposition of Mr. Williams' body already occurred in accordance with final wishes made known to his children and best friends, John-Henry and Claudia Williams. These facts relieve the personal representative of any responsibility in the matter (if he had any in the first place).'' Ferrell has indicated that she would support the cryonics plan if John Henry and Claudia Williams could prove to her that Ted Williams indeed wanted the controversial procedure. But she left Monday's lengthy negotiating session unpersuaded. ''All Bobby-Jo has said is, `Convince me that that was daddy's intent,''' Fitzpatrick said. It is now up to the sole civil court judge sitting at the tiny Citrus County Courthouse in Inverness to oversee the case. The judge must sit with the lawyers to devise a schedule for hearing the case. Ferrell's lawyers must also submit legal papers outlining their position within about three weeks. Lawyers for Ferrell said yesterday that they were preparing motions requesting documents from the opposing side and requests for sworn closed-door testimony, standard at the outset of a civil case. They predicted that the case could take months. Yesterday, Goldman, the lawyer for John Henry and Claudia Williams, sought to dispel notions, originally suggested by Ferrell, that his clients were interested in profiting from the sale of their father's DNA. ''One point should be made clear: Claudia and John Henry Williams will never profit from their father's body or the disposition of their father's remains,'' he said. If DNA sales were their motive, a swab from Williams's cheek or a blood sample would preserve ample amounts of his DNA; freezing would be unnecessary. Both sides yesterday held out hope that a private resolution could end the feud and preclude a messy courtroom airing of their dispute. But even John Henry and Claudia Williams's request for mediation yesterday seemed to contain a swipe at Ferrell: ''Although Mrs. Ferrell's public presentation of her views appears inconsistent with any inclination that this matter should be decided privately, we feel this is only a part of her grieving process.''
This story ran on page A3 of the Boston Globe on 7/18/2002.
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NVERNESS, Fla. - John Henry and Claudia Williams yesterday proclaimed sole ownership of their father's body, arguing in court papers that even the executor Ted Williams entrusted with his estate has no right to question their authority.