By Kevin McCauley
Sard Verbinnen & Co. is promoting a federal suit filed by 81-year-old Edie Windsor that challenges the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a legal union between a man and woman.
Windsor claims DOMA violates the equal protection guarantee of the Constitution because it recognizes opposite but not same sex marriage.
She wants the U.S. to reimburse her $350M in estate taxes that she paid following the 2009 death of her wife, Thea Spyer. The couple married in Canada in 2007 after living together for more than 40 years.
Windsor, who was a senior computer systems programmer, and Spyer, a clinical psychologist, shared an apartment in Greenwich Village. Spyer died from complications from a heart condition after a 30-year battle with multiple sclerosis. They were engaged in 1967, a relationship that is subject of a documentary "Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement."
Windsor’s suit was filed Nov. 9 Manhattan with assistance from American Civil Liberties Union and law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
Roberta Kaplan, Paul Weiss attorney handling the case, notes that if Thea was "Theo" then Edie would have inherited the money tax-free. "Edie and Thea were denied equal treatment, and it is obviously unjust that there should be a tax simply for being gay," said Kaplan.
Brandy Bergman, managing director at Sard Verbinnen, and principal Renee Soto are handling media.
The New York Daily News today called Windsor a "trailblazing gay rights activist."
|