Post-Gazette joins suit to open Heinz will
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette filed a petition yesterday to join two other newspapers that are seeking to open the will of the late U.S. Sen. H. John Heinz III.
The record was impounded April 5, 1991, the day after Heinz and seven other people were killed in an airplane crash near Harrisburg. The Los Angeles Times and The Morning Call of Allentown earlier petitioned the Allegheny County courts to unseal the records.
Lawyers for the initial petitioners, who filed suit in Orphan's Court in July, argue that the managers of Heinz's estate had no right or reason to seal the records.
They claim that since Heinz's widow, Teresa, is believed to be in control of much of the billion-dollar estate and is now married to presidential candidate John F. Kerry, details of the will are of immense public interest.
Teresa Heinz Kerry's philanthropy "may bear upon her current husband's presidential campaign," attorney Charles Kelly, who represents the Post-Gazette and its parent company, Blade Communications, wrote in the petition filed yesterday.
Common Pleas Judge Frank J. Lucchino set a hearing date for Aug. 27 on the Post-Gazette petition to join the suit.
A hearing on the request to unseal the records has been set for Sept. 14. |
