The children of a late guitarist who played lead for Bob Dylan in the mid-1960s are suing his widow over allegations of alleged elder abuse.
The adult offspring of the renowned Robbie Robertson filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, naming Janet Zuccarini, a well-known Toronto restaurateur, as a defendant.
She married Robertson months before his death last August at age 80, and now the late musician’s son claims she was taking advantage of him in his later years, especially when it came to ownership of a “trophy home” in Beverly Hills.
That residence belonged to Little Shop of Horrors producer David Geffen and was purchased by the couple based on an agreement that they would share ownership of the house equally.
However, the lawsuit claims that Robertson, one of the founding members of the famous American group The Band, covered the entire $1.8 million down payment, citing how within two years, Xuccarini allegedly convinced him to run away.
The children of Robbie Robertson, a renowned guitarist who played the lead role for Bob Dylan in the mid-1960s before dying last year, are suing his widow, Janet Zuccarini, 58 (seen with the guitarist in 2019) over accusations of ‘elder abuse’
Delphine, Alexandra and Sebastian Robertson filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, naming Zuccarini, a well-known Toronto restaurateur, as a defendant.
This, the lawsuit claims, occurred in a private ceremony “kept secret” from the artist’s children, while Robertson’s health and mental capacity were in decline.
Before the 2023 wedding, Zuccarini, 58, allegedly had Robertson sign a prenuptial agreement, as well as a modified tenant-in-common agreement that stated that if one of them died, the deceased’s estate would continue to pay half of the mortgage.
This left the guitarist’s estate and trust, Adriane Hibbert and David Jackel, in a bind, and led them to pursue the current case against Zuccarini.
Robertson’s three children, musician Sebastian, Delphine and Alexandra, are now part of the lawsuit, which alleges Zuccarini financially abused their father to inherit part of his estate.
“A great time for marriage,” the lawsuit claims of Zuccarini’s alleged mindset at the time, hosting a private wedding away from the musician’s family in March 2023.
He then had Robertson, who played with The Band from its inception until 1978, sign the prenuptial agreement, knowing that “he could no longer read and would not understand the true meaning of what he was signing.”
She then saw an “opportunity to embark on a marriage to a sick and dying man,” before getting Robinson to spend about $175,957 on renovations and $3,381.31 on “furniture and furnishings” on the three-bedroom Beverly Hills apartment.
Robbie, a five-time Grammy nominee and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, is seen here shredding with Dylan in 1972, before becoming one of the founding members of The Band.
The lawsuit centers on the couple’s purchase of this Beverly Hills home, which they said was the work of Zuccarini. The house was purchased less than two years before Zuccarini married Robertson in March 2023, a ceremony held months before her death last August.
The late musician’s children claim she was taking advantage of him in his final years, unbeknownst to them, longtime friends like Dylan and the guitarist’s ex-wife, Dominique Bourgeois. The trio is seen together in 2022.
The suit criticizes this as “elder financial abuse” and “tortious interference with the inheritance,” citing how Zuccarini conducted the prenuptial agreement and wedding in secret so that neither they nor his ex-wife, Dominique Bourgeois, could “review it.” “.
They claim they only found out about the marriage, which was supposedly attended only by Zuccarini’s sister and brother-in-law, hours after it happened, and showed up at the new house for what they assumed was an anniversary party.
The trio came to discern that it was a wedding party, after which Robertson’s children said their father had told them, directly, that “nothing in his estate plan had changed.”
Additionally, they were told that they would “receive all of his assets in the event of his death,” a promise that was not kept after the five-time Grammy nominee’s death.
The lawsuit, which seeks to cancel the modified tenancy-in-common agreement while seeking unspecified damages, is making its way through California courts.
Robertson, who had a professional and personal bond with Dylan dating back more than half a century, died of complications created by pancreatic cancer on August 9.
When Dylan went controversially electric in the mid-1960s, it was his The Band that provided his onstage backing.
Two days after Robertson’s death, Dylan said Billboard: ‘This is shocking news. Robbie was a lifelong friend. His death leaves a void in the world.”