NEW YORK (AP) — Mary Trump asked an appeals court on Wednesday to overturn a judge’s decision to dismiss his claims that his uncle donald trump and two of her siblings cheated her out of millions in a family settlement in 2001.
The lawsuit was dismissed on Monday by Robert R. Reeda judge of the state court of manhattan. Mary Trump had sought unspecified damages from his relatives, who had denied any fraud.
Two days later, the lawyer Roberta Kaplan appealed the decision to a state appellate court, citing multiple errors.
Reed said lawyers for former President TrumpHis sister Maryanne Trump Barryand for the estate of his deceased brother Robert S. Trump had shown that Mary Trump signed releases at the time of settlement releasing his relatives from any future claim on his part.
“These documents clearly and unambiguously released the defendants from unknown claims, including claims of fraud,” Reed wrote. “There is no indication that the parties intended to limit the releases to claims known at the time they signed the releases and settlement agreement.”
Kaplan said in a statement that the decision was “obviously disappointing, especially since it comes so late – more than two years after our filing.”
A lawyer for the former president did not return a message seeking comment.
The lawsuit alleged that Mary Trumppsychologist, was tricked and manipulated by her uncles and aunt, a former federal judge, into reaching the deal for the real estate business interests she inherited with her brother when her father, Fred Trump Jr.., died in 1981.
According to the lawsuit, donald trump and her siblings devalued Mary Trump’s interests, which included a share of hundreds of New York City apartments, by millions of dollars even before the father of Donald Trump, Fred Trump Sr.., died June 25, 1999.
After the death of the family patriarch, Mary Trump and his brother filed objections to the will and donald trump and her siblings “turned up the heat” to settle by cutting off health insurance to their niece and nephew, according to the lawsuit.
He said the action amounted to “unfathomable cruelty” because Fred Trump III’s third child, born hours later Fred Trump Sr..’s funeral, had seizures and required intensive medical care, including months in a neonatal intensive care unit.
The lawsuit was filed the same year as the publication of by Mary Trump book: “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.”
Kaplan said Monday’s appeal of the ruling had several grounds, but one in particular stands out.
“We believe the court ignored some key factual allegations, including that Mary Trump had a metaphorical ‘gun to his head’ since the Trumps cruelly ended the health insurance needed to provide life-saving medical care to his then-infant nephew,” she said.
Mary Trump said she only learned of the fraud after a thorough analysis of the Trump family’s financial history by The New York Times which explained how donald trump and his siblings inherited and built fortunes.
