Legal Discord Over Stolen Stradivarius

A woman who returned a 1713 Stradivarius violin that her husband stole in 1936 should have shared the $263,000 finder’s fee with her stepdaughter, the state Supreme Court ruled. Marcelle Hall, who was an administrator of her husband’s estate, had argued that she should keep the entire reward because a thief’s descendants should not benefit from his crime. Her lawyer has denied the estate was entitled to the fee, and she argues she is being penalized for trying to do the right thing. But the high court said the Gibson Stradivarius was an estate possession, so Hall should have shared the fee, and interest, with her stepdaughter. That amounts to $340,000, said Christopher Donohue, a lawyer for the daughter. Hall, who lives in a mobile home park in Claremont, N.H., said the reward money is long spent--in gifts to charities, taxes and other uses.