WHITE PLAINS, NY (April 28, 2026) — A Westchester County Supreme Court judge has ordered the immediate distribution of a $300,000 wrongful death settlement in the case of Jarrel Garris, a New Rochelle man fatally shot by a city detective in 2023, overriding continued objections from the estate’s administrator.
Justice Lewis J. Lubell issued an implementing order April 23, 2026, directing payment of settlement funds to the Garris family and their attorneys after defendants had withheld funds pending clearer court direction. The order came after plaintiffs’ counsel William O. Wagstaff III of The Wagstaff Firm, P.C., submitted a proposed distribution framework to break the deadlock.
Under the order, $200,000 is allocated to the Estate of Jarrel Garris for the benefit of the decedent’s sole distributee, identified as J.P. An additional $50,000 goes to Raymond Fowler individually and $50,000 to Janet Garris individually.
After deduction of attorney’s fees and disbursements, Fowler’s net individual recovery is $31,945.25, to be paid directly by defendants. The Wagstaff Firm receives $104,114.26, representing $99,900 in attorney’s fees — 33⅓ percent of the total recovery — plus $4,214.26 in reimbursable disbursements. Janet Garris’s net recovery of $31,945.25 is to be held in escrow by The Wagstaff Firm and disbursed to her.
The estate’s share of $131,995.24 is to be deposited into a restricted, interest-bearing account in the name of J.P. and is subject to withdrawal only upon further order of the Surrogate’s Court.
The order explicitly states that no action by Fowler as administrator is required to effectuate the settlement — a provision that has drawn his formal challenge.
Four days later, on April 27, Fowler filed a pro se objection with the court, demanding a stay of distribution and raising four arguments. He contends Wagstaff was terminated as his counsel in October 2025 and therefore lacks legal authority to make filings on behalf of the estate. He also alleges Wagstaff faces an unresolvable conflict of interest by simultaneously representing the estate, Janet Garris, and the guardian of the infant distributee — parties whose financial interests he argues are adverse to one another.
Fowler further argues the court approved attorney’s fees of $99,900 without billing records, time logs, or an evidentiary hearing, which he contends is legally defective under EPTL § 5-4.6 and controlling case law. He also challenges the order’s directive that his participation as administrator is unnecessary, arguing it improperly strips him of his fiduciary authority under SCPA § 702.
Fowler is demanding disqualification of Wagstaff absent proof of current authority, a full evidentiary hearing on attorney’s fees, production of all billing records and retainer agreements, and reinstatement of his authority as administrator.
The April 23 implementing order remains in effect. Fowler’s April 27 objection is pending before the court.
The underlying lawsuit stems from the fatal police shooting of Jarrel Garris on July 3, 2023, by New Rochelle Detective Steven Conn. The estate, Fowler, and Janet Garris filed suit against the City of New Rochelle and Det. Conn on September 29, 2024. The parties reached the mediated settlement on March 27, 2025. Justice Lubell enforced the settlement in a Decision and Order dated April 6, 2026, after Fowler had attempted to withdraw from the agreement.
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
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