Saying he had “grave concern” for the “safety, health and well-being” of Casey Kasem, a judge named on May 12 one of the radio legend’s daughters as her 82-year-old father’s temporary conservator and also ordered that his whereabouts be disclosed to her.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel Murphy named Kerri Kasem to the position over the objections of Craig Marcus, an attorney representing Casey Kasem’s wife, Jean.
Marcus argued that another judge previously found that the longtime radio personality was getting proper medical care and that there was no need for a temporary conservatorship when another of his daughters and her husband made a similar bid last year. The parties eventually settled.
However, Murphy said he was disturbed that even Marcus was unsure where Kasem was relocated to after his wife removed him from a Santa Monica convalescent facility last week.
Marcus said Kasem was taken somewhere out of the country and that Murphy may not have jurisdiction to issue a temporary conservatorship order. The attorney also said Jean Kasem is not denying her stepdaughters visitation with their father.
But Kerri Kasem’s lawyer, Troy Martin, said he believes his client’s father was moved to an Indian reservation in Washington.
Murphy said the uncertainty of not knowing Kasem’s whereabouts bothered him.
“This is of grave concern to the court,” Murphy said. “I’m concerned for the safety, health and well-being of Mr. Kasem.”
The temporary conservatorship expires June 20, when a hearing is scheduled on whether to make the conservatorship permanent. Murphy also directed that wherever Kasem currently is, he might not be moved again without an order of the court unless there is a medical emergency.
Jean Kasem did not attend the court hearing.
The appointment of Kerri Kasem also was supported by Samuel Ingham, Casey Kasem’s court-appointed lawyer, who said the need for taking such a step was even greater than before.
Another of Kasem’s daughters, Julie, wept as she and her sister hugged each other moments after Murphy issued his ruling.
A model and radio personality, Kerri Kasem filed documents alleging that her stepmother “continues to cruelly prevent (Casey Kasem) from seeing his loved ones, including his children, brother and close friends.”
In a sworn declaration filed with the court, Kerri Kasem says her father has Lewy Body Disease, which she says has symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease, but with a greater impact on the sufferer’s cognitive functions.
Kerri Kasem claims her stepmother previously moved her father to five different facilities to keep his children and other loved ones from visiting him. She said she and her sister Julie were able to locate and visit him last Tuesday at Berkley East Convalescent Hospital in Santa Monica and that it was the first time she had seen him since December.
“My father was very responsive and happy to see my sister and me,” her declaration says. “He smiled the entire time we were there. He tried to talk to us and was able to say, `I love you’ a few times so that everyone could hear.”
As they left, Kasem asked his two daughters when they would return, according to Kerri Kasem. Nurses at the facility told them it was the happiest they had seen him since he arrived at the hospital, she says.
Jean Kasem allowed Julie Kasem to visit her father for a while after the settlement was reached, but starting in January, she refused to allow any of his daughters to see him “in violation of the visitation agreement,” Kerri Kasem alleges.
She says she was dissatisfied with the visitation arrangements offered her under the previous settlement because it was “much too restrictive” and required that any time she spent with her father had to be in the presence of an armed guard hired by her stepmother.
Julie Kasem also filed a sworn statement with Kerri Kasem’s court papers in which she says she spoke to her father by phone almost every day before August 2012 and that she and her sister spent time with him most Sundays up until then.
Kerri, Julie and Mike Kasem were born during their father’s marriage to Linda Myers from 1972-79. Jean Kasem has been married to the 82-year-old former radio personality for more than three decades.
After Julie Kasem filed her petition last year, Jean Kasem responded by filing court papers attacking the motives of her stepchildren, alleging they “single-handedly and irreparably shattered the lives of their father, his wife and youngest daughter, the calm of their home and their neighborhood by engaging in uncalled for public demonstrations and personal attacks in the
media.”
“They are doing so with a professionally orchestrated media and legal campaign that has disgraced their father and vilified their stepmother,” she claimed.
