The daughter of the late founders of the Hollywood landmark Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe maintains in new court papers that her brother convinced their mother to create a trust in 2015 that made him the primary beneficiary of the family fortune and that he should now be removed as trustee.
The restaurant was one of Gov. Jerry Brown’s favorite hangouts in the 1970s where he could often be spotted with his then-romantic interest Linda Ronstadt.
Jackson Browne, Jimmy Webb, J.D. Souther and Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the Eagles also stopped by frequently, while presidential hopefuls made it a point to visit when in town, including then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Sens. Robert Kennedy and Robert Dole and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
A Jan. 11 hearing is scheduled on Patricia Anne Casado’s Los Angeles Superior Court petition asking a judge to suspend Frank James Casado’s powers in the Lucy Casado Trust and to either appoint Patricia Casado or a qualified person as the successor trustee.
She also wants her sibling to provide an accounting of the trust from its inception to the present.
Frank James Casado’s lawyer, Frank A. Sanzo, could not be immediately reached for comment.
The siblings’ mother died May 2, 2017, at age 91. She and her husband, Frank Casado, who died in 1990, established the Melrose Avenue cafe across the street from Paramount Pictures in 1964. By the early ’70s, it was known as a hangout for celebrities, politicians and rock stars.
The Casados had three children: Patricia, Frank James and Daryl Morrie Casado, who was mentally and physically disabled and died on June 18, 2017.
Their daughter worked at the restaurant from its inception until 2014, according to her court papers, which allege that her brother canceled their mother’s private insurance in 2012, when she was 86 years old, and left her with Medicare coverage only. Two years later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had tumors removed, her daughter’s court papers state.
The Lucy Casado Trust was created in November 2015 and gave Frank James Casado the “lion’s share” of his mother’s assets, including the cafe, the land under it and four additional properties, all worth about $15 million, according to the daughter’s court papers.
Frank James Casado has refused his sister’s numerous requests to provide any accounting of assets in the trust, according to Patricia Anne Casado’s court papers. Although their mother wanted Patricia Anne Casado to have the decedent’s necklace that was blessed by the Pope, Frank James Casado has not yet turned it over, according to the daughter’s court papers.
“Further, (Frank James Casado) refuses to provide (his sister) with decedent’s ashes,” the daughter’s court papers state.
Frank James Casado testified in August that he has not paid any estate taxes even though his mother died more than a year ago, according to Patricia Anne Casado’s court papers.
Lucy’s El Adobe was where a young Gov. Jerry Brown met singer Linda Ronstadt, launching a 1970s tabloid romance that put the famous pair on the cover of Newsweek.