Not long after a jurist dissolved a temporary restraining order previously obtained on behalf of comic book legend Stan Lee against his partner and business manager, a new stay-away order request was filed Friday by his lawyers and approved.
Friday morning, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Pro Tem Ruth Kleman’s dissolved the original order, but did so without prejudice, meaning the stay-away order against Keya Morgan could be refiled. Attorneys Tom Lallas and Robert Reynolds both appeared on Lee’s behalf and claimed to have authority to be his lawyer.
“I’m concerned who has authority to represent Mr. Lee,” Kleman said in explaining why she was dissolving the first order issued in June.
Attorney Steven Crump subsequently filed new court papers on Lee’s behalf and a TRO was once again approved pending a July 26 hearing on whether it should be extended. The name of the judicial officer who signed the new order could not be ascertained from the court papers.
Morgan must stay at least 100 yards from Lee, 95, his daughter and his brother. The suit alleges Morgan has been contacting the relatives daily demanding they pay him money or assist him in gaining control of Lee’s finances.
Lallas had asked that the first temporary stay-away order be extended for 30 days so that supplemental court papers could be served on Morgan. Lawless said he had the authority of the Los Angeles Police Department to act on Lee’s behalf.
Morgan is additionally facing two misdemeanor counts each of falsely reporting an emergency and falsely reporting a crime, along with a probation violation, according to the City Attorney’s Office.
Morgan, who was serving two years probation for making criminal threats in an unrelated csae, was arrested June 11 and released that evening on $20,000 bail.
According to court papers, law enforcement and Adult Protective Services officials went to Lee’s home on May 30 to perform a “welfare check.” Morgan then reportedly arrived at the residence and security guards refused to let him in, while Lee was being interviewed by authorities. At that point, Morgan “made a false 911 call, claiming that there were three unidentified burglary suspects in his 95-year-old friend’s home who had locked everyone out of the house,” according to the court documents.
Later that night, Morgan called 911 again, accusing a security guard at the home of assaulting him and Lee with a deadly weapon, according to court documents.
Lee, the man behind Marvel superheroes such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Black Panther, requested a order against Morgan, who he had days earlier insisted was his sole partner and business manager. The court documents allege in part that Morgan isolated Lee from his family and other associates, and moved him out of his home earlier this month and into a condominium.
“The respondent Keya Morgan, a memorabilia collector who inserted himself into Mr. Lee’s life as his caregiver following the passing of Mr. Lee’s wife in July 2017, took control of Mr. Lee’s home on Feb. 15, 2018,” according to the court documents filed on Lee’s behalf by Lallas. “He hired a security team and made household decisions.”
Lallas wrote that he, law enforcement and Adult Protective Services, all believe that “Morgan is unduly influencing Mr. Lee and isolating him.”
The filing appeared to mark a sharp reversal of fortunes for Morgan, whom Lee lauded in a video posted on Twitter the weekend before the welfare check as “my only partner and business manager.”
“I just want to go on the record as saying I have only one partner, only one person who does represent me, and that’s Keya Morgan,” Lee said on the video. “Anybody else who claims to be my rep is just making that story up. … The two of us work together and are conquering the world side by side.”