Nervous Corrupt Court Insiders Plant Misinformation

Niece Pamela Carvel vying for ice cream king's fortune frozen out by judge
The New York Daily News by Robert Gearty - August 29, 2010

After a long-running battle with as many twists as a soft-serve cone, the legal war over the estate of ice-cream king Tom Carvel may be drawing to a close. A judge has barred Carvel's niece from bringing any more lawsuits against the estate in Manhattan Federal Court. For years Pamela Carvel, 61, has asserted that she is heir to her uncle's estate, and the estate of her aunt, Agnes Carvel. The claims have been litigated countless times in various state, federal and foreign courts, only to be dismissed as baseless, meritless and defamatory. At one point she unsuccessfully sought to exhume Tom Carvel's body, claiming he was murdered to cover up a multimillion-dollar embezzlement. Judge Jed Rakoff slapped the niece with an injunction Aug. 19 after another federal judge tossed her latest suit against the Tom and Agnes Carvel Foundation. The foundation had sued Pamela Carvel in state court to enforce a cash judgement it obtained against her in England. Acting as her own lawyer, she transferred the case to Manhattan Federal Court and filed a $300 million countersuit, claiming the foundation used fraud and bribery and "procured the death of Agnes Carvel from stress through criminal coercion." Magistrate Judge Michael Dolinger threw out her case and in a 108-page report recommended Rakoff impose sanctions and blocked any more lawsuits. "Any rational litigant in Ms. Carvel's position would certainly have understood that her claims are legally meritless," Dolinger said. If she violates the injunction, she can be cited for contempt of court. Pamela Carvel, who has addresses in London and Delaware, did not return a message. In court papers, she said Dolinger's decision would leave her bankrupt and provide "an international blank check for the fraudsters who are plaintiffs to use to destroy Pamela Carvel." The lawyers for the Carvel foundation, a charitable trust, Joan Magoolaghan and Kevin Stevens, declined comment. When Tom Carvel died in 1990 his ice cream empire consisted of 850 stores. He was well-known for his gravelly voiced TV commercials and creations like Cookie Puss and Fudgie the Whale. He and his wife intended that their estates be left to charity. Pamela Carvel was an executor of her uncle's estate but was removed for the misappropriation of $2 million. After Agnes Carvel died in 1998, Pamela Carvel brought forth a 1995 will in which she was left her aunt's entire estate. The will was declared invalid, but she obtained a judgement in London against the foundation for $15 million. When she sought to enforce the judgment in Florida and Nassau County, foundation lawyers blocked her - then had the London judgement vacated. rgearty@nydailynews.com