Judge favors opening parts of Brooke Astor court file

NEW YORK – A judge agreed on Tuesday to partly open the court file in the family feud over the care of 104-year-old philanthropist Brooke Astor.

In his ruling in a Manhattan court, Justice John Stackhouse said he would make public all documents except for information about Astor’s medical condition and care. Any future testimony about her health also would be kept private, he added.

The judge said the entire file would remain sealed until 5 p.m. Thursday to give either side a chance to appeal his decision.

Stackhouse had sealed the case in July at the request of Astor’s grandson, Philip Marshall, a professor at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, after the Daily News reported he had gone to court to remove his father as legal guardian.

Lawyers for The Associated Press, the Daily News, The New York Times and the New York Post had challenged the sealing order, arguing the public had a genuine interest in the well-being of Astor.

The news organizations “have shown a legitimate public concern, as opposed to mere curiosity, to counterbalance the interests of the parties in keeping this matter private,” Stackhouse wrote.

The judge noted there was no evidence that extensive publicity about the guardianship battle has caused Astor distress.

“The court has been informed that she is resting comfortably, and has not been disturbed by the media coverage of the dispute because she neither reads the papers nor watches television,” he said.

Astor’s charitable efforts through the Vincent Astor Foundation won her a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 1998. She has also been a leading society figure for decades.

But her grandson has alleged that in recent years his ailing grandmother was reduced to sleeping on a filthy couch to escape a cold bedroom and subsisting on pureed peas and oatmeal, the News reported. His father, Anthony Marshall, has denied any mistreatment.

Astor’s husband, Vincent, a descendant of 19th century tycoon John Jacob Astor, endowed the foundation that bore his name before he died in 1959. It gave away approximately $200 million by the time it closed at the end of 1997.