New York, US

A man in the United States has sued his ex-wife, accusing her of ruining his wine collection worth $300,000. He says that the 400 bottles of wine at his ski house were destroyed after electricity to the house was cut by the company without giving him any notice, and he blames his former wife for it. 

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Michael Clarke and Concetta divorced in July 2023 and he ended up with their sprawling ski house spread over an area of 6,200-square-foot. The $3 million house in Upstate New York has six bedrooms, six bathrooms, two fireplaces, a game room, a gym, a wet bar, and a chef’s kitchen. However, climate-controlled wine storage has become a point of contention between Michael and Concetta.

In the lawsuit, Michael claims his ex-wife’s “disinterested malevolence" destroyed his wine collection, as per a report by The Independent.

“Defendant… intentionally inflicted harm on Plaintiff, which resulted in… the destruction of Plaintiff’s wine collection worth $300,000, and without Defendant having any excuse or justification for her actions,” the suit alleges.

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Michael has accused Concetta of removing his name, either intentionally or through negligence, from the New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) service account.

What did Concetta do?

The lawsuit states that the couple were together for nearly 20 years after tying the knot in 2005. They jointly owned the ski house in the resort town of Windham, New York, as per the lawsuit.

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As per a stipulation at the time of the divorce, Concetta allegedly agreed to transfer her ownership of the property over to Michael within 30 days of signing the agreement. 

The lawsuit further states that every item in the house went "to the husband free and clear of any claim of the Wife."

Concetta called NYSEG on September 5, 2023, and asked them to remove her name from the account. However, the suit states, that Concetta “simultaneously, with intent and/or negligently, also removed [Michael’s] name” from the account.

After this, the company stopped contacting Michael for any kind of communication. As per the lawsuit, when he went to the house weeks later, he discovered that his name was no longer on the NYSEG account, and the service to the address had been disconnected “without providing [him] with any notice."

The husband is livid and states that Concetta  “always knew" that he stored around 400 bottles of wine, "worth approximately $300,000, above ground, inside the home… under the protection of refrigerated conditions such refrigerated conditions powered by NYSEG electric service.”

The lawsuit accuses Concetta of causing harm to the wine collection, since "in absence of refrigeration, including both elevation of the temperature in the storage room, and daily variation in temperature in the room where the wine collection was stored",  Michael’s wine collection was destroyed, according to the suit.

He now wants her to pay a total of $600,000 with interest, plus legal costs.