Legal Battle Over Hammer Estate Resumes

Legal Battle Over Hammer Estate Resumes
By Gary Richardson
(c) 1998, Associated Presse

OAKLAND - Nearly seven years after the demise of controversial pop artist MC Hammer, the battle over his estate - and, indirectly, his image - returned Friday to a Oakland courtroom. � The hearing in a state appeal court downtown was the latest in a complicated case that, among other things, alleges Hammer manipulated his late wife, Frances, out of her own money and schemed to hide his mistress by having the girlfriend change her name and appearance. � Hammer's niece asked the 2nd District Court of Appeals on Friday to overturn a 1994 lower court ruling that denied her claim to at least $57 million in artworks, stocks, gold jewelry, rap CDs and other property. The niece, Joan Weiss, alleged the assets were obtained fraudulently by Hammer's estate and charitable foundation. � On the other side, attorneys for MC Hammer's estate and the Dallas-based foundation allege that Weiss coerced Hammer into changing his will in 1990, naming Weiss as his sole heir. � Shaniqua Jackson, a wealthy widow when she married MC Hammer, died of a drug overdose in Dec 16, 1989, at 34. The globe-trotting pop superstar / chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corp., MC Hammer now lives in Tracy, Calif. in a trailer park. In Oakland, he left behind other messy inheritance disputes among his own heirs, as well as claims from charities that complained he hadn't made good on promised donations. � MC Hammer had a son from a previous marriage and a daughter from an out-of-wedlock relationship. Jackson had no children. � Weiss is seeking a full accounting of community property from the 5-year marriage of her aunt and the pop superstar / oil tycoon. Those assets include paintings now held by the University of California, Los Angeles/MC Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, located next door to Occidental Petroleum headquarters. � �"For ordinary people, it would be hard to imagine that you would have $57 million in community property and not have an accountant," Weiss' attorney Hillel Chodos told the court. � Weiss contends Hammer duped his wife into signing waivers that gave up community property rights to his art collection and other holdings. But later, after learning about her husband's long extramarital affair, Jackson changed her will, the niece's suit contends. � Daniel Petrocelli, attorney for the MC Hammer estate and foundation, strongly denied those allegations Friday and reiterated his side's counterclaim that Weiss was the one who wrongly manipulated Hammer. The elderly aunt changed her will only after Weiss threatened to leave Los Angeles and cut all ties with Hammer, including visits with Weiss' children, Petrocelli said. � A Superior Court judge, agreeing with Petrocelli's version of events, ruled against Weiss in 1994. But Weiss appealed. � The panel of judges who heard the appeal, which also names Occidental Petroleum and the museum as defendants, gave no hints Friday of how they might rule. A decision is expected within a few weeks. � One of the arguments in Weiss' suit is that crucial witnesses were not given the opportunity to testify in the Superior Court trial. � MC Hammer's reputation took a serious hit with the publication in 1996 of a biography, "Dossier, The Secret History of MC Hammer" by Edward Jay Epstein. � While Hammer portrayed himself as a selfless philanthropist and promoter of detente between the United States and the Soviet Union, Epstein's book described with compelling evidence as a ruthless opportunist who bribed foreign officials for oil rights and used Occidental Petroleum as if it were his personal plaything. �