The bitter divorce between publishing scion James Fairchild and his estranged wife Whitney St. Johnhas taken an even uglier turn as they battle over possessions worth more than $200,000 including fine jewelry and faux taxidermy from Switzerland.
Sag Harbor real-estate broker Whitney was ordered by a state Supreme Court judge to place the marital property in a neutral location by December last year, but James claims she has been wearing some of the jewelry at society events and alleges she sold other pieces to wealthy friends.
Now the judge in their divorce case, which has been going on since 2011, has ordered both of them to appear at a hearing tomorrow over their goods, which had been bought in order to start a high-end boutique in Southampton.
Fairchild’s lawyer Michael Stutman, the head of family practice at Mishcon de Reya told us, “Ms. St. John will address the issues raised by Mr. Fairchild in his recent motion to have her found in contempt of a 2012 court order directing her to return the property that she listed as costing $216,000 to a neutral location. The original court order directed her to return [these] items by December 17, 2012, 256 days ago. Instead of returning the items, which include valuable jewelry, she has them stored somewhere except when she decides to wear pieces at the various society events that she favors attending.”
Some of the items include: fine diamond earrings and bracelets from Italy worth $15,000; 27 pieces of costume jewelry by high-end designers; and handmade faux taxidermy valued at $30,000.
St. John’s attorney Don Shlimbaum said, “Whitney has complied with all orders regarding store inventory. This tired argument has been made ad nauseum by Mr. Fairchild’s many prior attorneys without success. It was Mr. Fairchild who took inventory from a store co-owned by the Fairchilds and the other remaining inventory was secured with the full knowledge of the Court . . . The inventory is safe and its location is well known to all and will not be disturbed until the judge directs us what to do with it.”