An angry Manhattan dad has filed a $6 million lawsuit against a woman who’s refusing to give his family’s dog back to his cancer-stricken daughter.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Martin Klein says Gayle Fisher Worth should be forced to pay his 15-year-old daughter, Michele, $6 million for the “severe emotional distress” she’s causing the girl by refusing to give back her Yorkshire terrier, Hershe.
The girl, who is suffering from malignant melanoma, has “been crying herself to sleep while sleeping with Hershe’s dog blanket” in the month and a half that Worth has had the dog.
The suit also seeks a court order forcing the immediate return of Hershe.
Worth, 60, told The Post that Hershe isn’t going anywhere. “He’s not their dog!” she exclaimed.
She said Klein knows full well that the dog belongs to her live-in boyfriend, incarcerated construction exec Ted Kohl, and called the suit “cruel.”
She said Kohl gave Michele the dog five years ago – and the Kleins gave the pooch back a month later because their building doesn’t allow pets.
“This is insane. This is just absurd,” she fumed, saying Klein was seeking “revenge” because Kohl at one point had a relationship with his wife.
Klein’s court papers tell a very different story. He says he and his family were friends with Kohl and that Kohl would often dog-sit Hershe, whom he gave to Michele as an 11th-birthday present.
The Kleins’ suit says they last left Hershe with Kohl on Nov. 20, 2005, when they went on a trip to England. They were supposed to pick the pooch up on the 28th, the day Kohl was set to be sentenced to four years in prison for ripping off millions from a Trump Tower construction project.
Kohl didn’t return the dog, said the Kleins’ lawyer, Hayley Greenberg. She said her clients eventually found out that Kohl had left Hershe with Worth, but when they asked her for the dog back, she refused.
Worth said their tale was flat-out false. She said Kohl has had the dog ever since they returned him in 2001, and “He loves that dog more than anything – probably more than he loves me.”
Worth said Klein is trying to kick Kohl while he’s down by taking away his beloved dog. “It’s immoral what they’re doing. It’s cruel, evil.”
The case is due in court Jan. 13.