Anne Heche’s estate sued for $2 million by woman living in the house she crashed into
The woman lost all of her possessions in the crash but was otherwise unharmed
Aux News Anne Heche
Lynne Mishele, the woman who was inside the house that Anne Heche crashed into this summer (which started a fire that ultimately caused Heche’s death), has filed a $2 million lawsuit against Heche’s estate for “negligence,” “infliction of emotional distress,” and trespassing. Mishele was renting the house at the time from owners John and Jennifer Durand, who set up a GoFundMe page after the crash to help cover the cost of Mishele’s lost belongings. The GoFundMe ended up raising nearly $200,000, but in a recent post from earlier this month, Mishele revealed that she was diagnosed with cancer in September. She says she is now “doing well” after surgery, and she explained that the donations have helped her start to rebuild her life and get through her cancer treatment.
In her lawsuit (which comes via a report from People), Mishele notes that it was “by God’s grace” that her and her pets “barely escaped physical impact from the car crash” and that she is now “terrified, severely traumatized, and without a place to live.” The suit also says that all of Mishele’s posessions “were completely burned and destroyed,” including “pictures and mementos, all her business papers and equipment, her laptop and iPad, all of her clothing, basic necessities, and household items.” Mishele is “unable to sleep and is battling acute anxiety and depression,” making it impossible “to operate her home business because of her physical displacement and fragile mental health caused by Defendants’ irresponsible behavior.”
Heche is survived by two children, including eldest son Homer Laffoon, who said at the time of her death that he was “left with a deep, wordless sadness,” adding, “Hopefully my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom.”
44 Comments
Mishele is a victim in this case, for sure, but suing the estate of the person who wronged you while dying is really creepy. Heche’s kids weren’t the ones who were negligent, etc. I understand that this is her only available remedy under the law, and I feel for her.
“Heche’s kids weren’t the ones who were negligent.” Right. But why should they get a big inheritance and benefit financially from the accident, while the victim is left out in the cold? When Anne Heche died, she left a lot of money behind. Giving it all to her kids without giving any to the victim seems pretty short-sighted. I have no problem with suing the estate — it’s basically the representation of Anne Heche and her material wealth, now that she is gone.
It’s not creepy – it’s justice.
1. Heche’s kids didn’t earn that money. It’s appropriate for debts to be paid from the estate before the heirs get what’s left.2. Isn’t this what liability insurance is for?
True, but $2MM seems high. Even assuming this person is telling the whole truth.
She lost everything, her house, her clothes all of her belongings. Yes homeowners insurance should cover some of that, but a lot of people don’t update their HO insurance and are undervalued. Plus, it IS traumatic to have your house burst into flame around you because someone who was stoned out of their minds drove into your house. I don’t have issue with the suit or the amount. Either they will prove the amount at trial or the estate will settle for whatever they consider reasonable.
Yeah, it seems fishy that she may have been traumatized by the car flying through her small home and her home catching fire while she and her pets were inside. Definitely sounds more like a scam than, you know, an extremely traumatic event. I have a very big brain and I say things on the internet without thinking them through because I’m very smart and people need my thoughts on everything.
That’s not the exact number they expect to get. They just pick a random high number and see what happens.
Does it?I mean assuming she had no priceless heirlooms the property destroyed alone is probably not worth 2 million but you have to account for resume inflicted and loss of irreplaceable items like picture and personal papers. I honestly think 2 million sounds low
it’s not her house. She’s a renter.
She lived there, its her home ya goof.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1760-Walgrove-Ave-Los-Angeles-CA-90066/20454472_zpid/the house isn’t even worth $2MM lol
Which means the house isn’t hers but all the shit inside it is. If a drunk lady drove her car into my rented house and burned all my shit down, I’d be asking for at least 2 million dollars. Especially if that drunk lady was a wealthy Hollywood actress.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1760-Walgrove-Ave-Los-Angeles-CA-90066/20454472_zpid/the house isn’t even worth $2MM lol you think she couldn’t afford to buy a house but had $2MM worth of shit in it? She deserves compensation for the items lost and for some mental anguish but she’s trying to take advantage of the situation.
Gonna guess you never lost anything to a fire before. I did as a kid. It’s absolutely devastating, both emotionally and financially. Insurance only compensates you based on depreciated value after deductible. And that only happens after months of paper work. It’s a fucking shit show. Now take that fact and then add in the poor woman has to deal with trauma of having a fucking car drive through her home and nearly kill her and her pets. I still say 2 million is getting off cheap
So what? If some loony smashed a car into the house you were living in, destroyed all your stuff and nearly killed you and your pets, I imagine you’d “try to take advantage of the situation” as well, and more power you.This woman has been left with pretty much nothing through no fault of her own and has a pretty open-and-shut case. She’s entirely within her legal and moral rights to take Heche’s estate to the cleaners on this one.
A lot of people seem to have missed that she was renting the house…
Doesn’t matter. Even if she didn’t own the house she still had a drunk lady crash a car into her home and destroy all her possessions.2 million seems like a deal
there’s a $500k cap on wrongful death damages in California…this doesn’t seem worse than actually dying.
and since then tox came back neg
A completely sober, possibly suicidal woman driving their car into your home and destroying your life is still feel worth 2 million
A car crashed into the house while she was home and it caused a fire that did further damage, all of which would be on police reports and such. What do you think she’d be leaving out?
yeah fr
“Telling the whole truth”? What do you think she would possibly be lying about? A famous person crashed a car into her house while she was in it and burnt it to the ground along with everything inside, it seems like a pretty straightforward case. It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of holes or questions to be raised about her claim here, or even much room to obfuscate or conceal anything — it was all over the news.If anything, considering her house is no longer livable, most of her possessions would have been destroyed by impact, fire or water through no fault of her own and she narrowly avoided death at the hands of a woman apparently undergoing some form of psychotic breakdown at least, $2mil for her troubles sounds perfectly reasonable.
I’m honestly surprised people think 2 million is “to much” for this. I just looked it up and apparently her estate is only worth $400k. She didn’t own any property or have much in savings. But even so I think the person who’s life she ruined by driving a car into her house should probably get whatever she had left at the time of her death.
nah
The insurance company that paid the homeowners is 100% going to sue the estate as well, they aren’t going to throw their hands up and go “Oh well, that’s one for the loss column”.
I agree that it is appropriate to cover the cost of the victims trauma and loss with the insurance or a law suit lodged against the estate. This is nothing personal. Everyone is trying to rebuild their lives. My sympathies go out to all those that have suffered from this tragedy.
It’s her only available remedy under the law, and you feel for her, so why did you also feel the need to label her perfectly reasonable and understandable action “creepy”?
Hey now. It’s objectively creepy to walk into a cemetery, dig up a corpse, and ask for financial restitution to its face.
It’s standard practice to sue estates. Heche drove into the woman’s house and destroyed her possessions. It’s no different than if she’d driven into the woman’s car on the freeway. The fact that Heche died didn’t negate the fact that she caused the crash and is liable for the damages. It’s totally appropriate to sue Heche’s estate.
The actions that she took when she was alive both contribute value to her estate and remove value from her estate. Her last act removed a lot of value by seriously impacting an innocent person. If she had put all her money in an ill advised investment scheme right before she died would we make an argument that her kids should have the pre-investment value? Of course not.
Not creepy at all. Heche is responsible for the accident that destroyed the victim’s home.
This is exactly why it’s a poor idea to drink and do drugs and then crash your car into someone’s house — your heirs may not inherit your full multimillion dollar fortune.If the estate wants to blame anyone, they should blame the late criminally negligent Anne Heche.
lol
You ain’t off the hook just cause you dead bitch! HAHAHA!
Harsh…but fair.
Boy, is it creepy now to watch Heche get in a plane crash while high on Xanax in Six Days Seven Nights.
Didn’t they find drugs in her system tho? Just because it’s sad that she’s dead now doesn’t mean this wasn’t a super fucked up accident. Someone does need to pony up for those damages she caused while on drugs and driving yo. Like how the hell could this not have been the outcome?
Agree!
I came back here out of curiosity to see if there’s anyone being like “wtf leave Anne Heche’s family alone!” here… Nope all these comments seem sane and stuff so that’s good. Faith in humanity slightly restored.
Did the house burn down? Or were all of her belongings were piled by the front window? Regardless, renter’s insurance folks – get it. It’s cheap.I do have to think Heche’s estate is liable for replacing those items (perhaps via the homeowner’s insurer) but $2MM is just silly even as a starting bid.
Per reports, the house was destroyed, along with what was inside. The car crashed through a wall at a high rate of speed and ended up 30 feet into the house, where it caught fire. The fire then spread to the rest of the house and took over an hour to extinguish.If literally all my possessions were destroyed and I was left with no place to live due to someone else’s negligent behavior, I dunno $2mm doesn’t seem that unreasonable.
Good. Hope she gets more.