LOS ANGELES – November 27, 2015 — (Gephardt Daily) — Jean Kasem, wife of iconic radio personality, Casey Kasem (who passed way at age 82 on June 15, 2015), is being sued by Kasem’s children and brother in a wrongful death lawsuit.
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, Kasem’s three children (all from different marriages) accuse Jean Kasem of elder abuse and inflicting emotional distress on them and, in the months prior to Kasem’s death, his three children were allowed restricted access to their father as he lay bedridden with dementia.
According to the lawsuit, which is asking for $250,000 in damages. “Casey’s early death occurred as a direct and proximate result of Jean’s neglect and physical abuse of Casey.”
in a statement to Billboard Magazine, Casey’s daughter Kerri Kasem said, “We would rather see her in jail than receive one dime. We don’t care about the money. We care about justice. What [Jean] did to my father is reprehensible. It’s disgusting. It’s horrific.”
Billboard also reports the 28-page civil lawsuit states that in the months before Casey Kasem’s death, his wife repeatedly left him in various hospitals for days despite the fact he was ready to be discharged. The lawsuit also details numerous confrontations about Kasem’s care, and it states Jean Kasem transported his body to Norway where it was buried in an unmarked grave.
That was despite Casey Kasem’s wishes to be buried at a cemetery in Los Angeles, the lawsuit states.
It is also cited in the document Jean’s decision to bury Kasem in an unmarked grave in Norway as an example of the emotional distress they’ve endured.
The lawsuit says Kasem’s brother and children are seeking “fair recompense for the suffering they personally endured from witnessing the abuse and its painful and damaging physical effect on their beloved father and brother, and the gross treatment and disposition of Casey Kasem’s remains in an unmarked grave in a distant land unknown to him or his family.”
Casey Kasem was an American disc jockey, music historian, radio celebrity, voice actor, and actor, known for being the host of several music radio countdown programs, most notably American Top 40, from 1970 until his retirement in 2009, and for providing the voice of “Shaggy” Rogers in the Scooby-Doo franchise from 1969 to 1997, and again from 2002 until 2009.
Kasem provided the voice of many commercials, performed many voices for Sesame Street, provided the character voice of Peter Cottontail in the animated film, Here Comes Peter Cottontail. Kasem was “the voice of NBC”, and helped out with the annual Jerry Lewis telethon. He provided the cartoon voices of Robin in Super Friends, Mark on Battle of the Planets, and a number of characters for the Transformers cartoon series of the 1980s.
In 2008, he was the voice of Out of Sight Retro Night which aired on WGN America, but was replaced by rival Rick Dees.
After 40 years, Kasem retired from his role of voicing Shaggy in 2009, although he did voice Shaggy’s father in the 2010 TV series, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
