Gordon Ramsay suit seeks 200k for Matisse Reid

Napier's Reid family could receive $200,000 to help their chronically ill daughter if a court case against celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is successful.
New Zealand promotions company Duco Events is suing Ramsay for more than $2 million for pulling out of a series of charity dinners raising funds for Matisse Reid.
Matisse, who turns 10 on Christmas Day, has been battling chronic intestinal obstruction since birth and has been fed her whole life from an intravenous drip. The family has been in the United States for four years waiting for a multiple organ transplant.
Duco Events director David Higgins said the claim included $200,000 for the Reid family, which would go towards their living costs because Matisse's parents, Jodee and Wayne, were not allowed to work in the US.
Ramsay, who charged a $100,000 appearance fee, was to take part in three charity dinners in the main centres in June, pulled out of the speaking tour after claiming his mother had a heart attack.
New dates were set for October, which he then cancelled because of a "business crisis" in Britain.
Duco Events was forced to refund about 1600 tickets and got most of Ramsay's fee back.
But the court claim filed by Duco Ltd reveals that Ramsay did not raise cancelling the New Zealand trip until after his mother had been in hospital for five days. The company decided in the days following the second cancellation that it was worth seeking redress, Mr Higgins said. "It could be a long process, it depends how they respond, but we are committed to this," he said. "We will patiently follow the legal process through to a conclusion."
Mr Higgins said in more than seven years organising events he had never had someone cancel twice at such late notice.
"It is extremely rare," he said. "I had a conversation with an Australian guy who has been organising events since 1980, he said it was unheard of."
The company could substantiate its claim that the family would have got at least $200,000 if the events went ahead, Mr Higgins said.
Matisse's grandfather, John Hands, said Ramsay's visit had seemed like an ideal way to raise money to support Matisse and her family staying in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Now it was a waiting game to see if the funds would come through for the family. "We are there to support David Higgins and we hope it is going to be successful," Mr Hands said. "If we got, say, $100,000 that would support [the family] for two, maybe three years. It's a big difference."
It was a stressful situation for the whole family and the money raised by Hawke's Bay in the 2006 campaign was starting to run low.
The family was not going to ask locals for more, the Bay had already given enough, he said.
"Hawke's Bay has been very generous, raised a lot of money and we are very grateful. Now we have got to look at other avenues," Mr Hands said. "These dinners were a great avenue but it didn't work out. We're still looking at other things."
- Additional reporting, Herald on Sunday