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The Canadian Press
MONTREAL — A judge has weighed in with a clear, unequivocal decision in a legal dispute over who should inherit late boxer Arturo Gatti's money.
The winner: his widow, Amanda Rodrigues.
The verdict Friday came after a deeply personal legal battle over the $3.4 million fortune, which pitted Gatti's widow against his mother and youngest brother.
The judge ruled that Gatti's last will -- signed in 2009 -- was legitimate and that Rodrigues did not manipulate him into signing it.
"Mr. Gatti voluntarily signed the will in 2009 and named Ms. Rodrigues as his sole heir," Quebec Superior Court Justice Claudine Roy declared.
"Ms. Rodrigues did not control or manipulate Mr. Gatti in order to benefit herself."
The Gatti family, along with the mother of his other child, argue that the boxer was duped into signing that will, just weeks before his mysterious death at a Brazilian resort in 2009.
That will left everything to Rodrigues.
The family argued that an older will should have been considered valid instead. That U.S. will from 2007 leaves everything to them, but a signed copy has never been found.
The Gatti family has never accepted that the former champion killed himself; during the recent civil trial, their legal team pummelled Rodrigues with questions about the leadup to his death.
Rodrigues was initially arrested in the case, then released without charge by Brazilian authorities.
That death was ultimately ruled a suicide by Brazilian authorities and a recently released Quebec coroner's report says there are no obvious signs of foul play.
During the civil trial, the judge expressed concern that the fortune was being whittled away by all the legal wrangling, including separate cases in the U.S.
Roy wrote in her verdict that the couple may have had their share of fights -- but they were still a couple when Gatti died.
And she said there's no evidence Rodrigues did anything wrong.
Questions about the night of Gatti's death had been limited by the judge, who pointed out during the trial that it was a civil case involving a will, not a homicide trial.
The judge had called such questions a "fishing expedition" -- and she forced the Gatti family lawyers to stop asking them.
In her verdict, Roy added: "(The family) did not state nor prove that Ms. Rodrigues might have been involved in the death of her husband."
MONTREAL — A judge has weighed in with a clear, unequivocal decision in a legal dispute over who should inherit late boxer Arturo Gatti's money.
The winner: his widow, Amanda Rodrigues.
The verdict Friday came after a deeply personal legal battle over the $3.4 million fortune, which pitted Gatti's widow against his mother and youngest brother.
The judge ruled that Gatti's last will -- signed in 2009 -- was legitimate and that Rodrigues did not manipulate him into signing it.
"Mr. Gatti voluntarily signed the will in 2009 and named Ms. Rodrigues as his sole heir," Quebec Superior Court Justice Claudine Roy declared.
"Ms. Rodrigues did not control or manipulate Mr. Gatti in order to benefit herself."
The Gatti family, along with the mother of his other child, argue that the boxer was duped into signing that will, just weeks before his mysterious death at a Brazilian resort in 2009.
That will left everything to Rodrigues.
The family argued that an older will should have been considered valid instead. That U.S. will from 2007 leaves everything to them, but a signed copy has never been found.
The Gatti family has never accepted that the former champion killed himself; during the recent civil trial, their legal team pummelled Rodrigues with questions about the leadup to his death.
Rodrigues was initially arrested in the case, then released without charge by Brazilian authorities.
That death was ultimately ruled a suicide by Brazilian authorities and a recently released Quebec coroner's report says there are no obvious signs of foul play.
During the civil trial, the judge expressed concern that the fortune was being whittled away by all the legal wrangling, including separate cases in the U.S.
Roy wrote in her verdict that the couple may have had their share of fights -- but they were still a couple when Gatti died.
And she said there's no evidence Rodrigues did anything wrong.
Questions about the night of Gatti's death had been limited by the judge, who pointed out during the trial that it was a civil case involving a will, not a homicide trial.
The judge had called such questions a "fishing expedition" -- and she forced the Gatti family lawyers to stop asking them.
In her verdict, Roy added: "(The family) did not state nor prove that Ms. Rodrigues might have been involved in the death of her husband."
It's so obvious
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