The wife of a registered nurse charged with setting the blaze that killed billionaire banker Edmond Safra in Monaco in 1999 can sue Safra's widow but cannot depose her until she does, a New York Supreme Court judge has ruled.

Judge Ralph A. Beisner denied the 31-year-old Stormville, N.Y., resident's motion to compel Lily Safra, the widow, and others to answer questions under oath about events following the Dec. 3, 1999, death of Safra and a female nurse, Vivian Torrente, in the Monaco fire.

Maher's 43-year-old husband, Ted Maher, is charged with starting the blaze in Safra's fortified penthouse in the tiny principality on the Mediterranean Sea. Heidi Maher claims that she was kidnapped by members of the Safra organization who, on behalf of police, allegedly confiscated her passport and used it to get Ted Maher to confess to starting the fire.

Safra and Torrente died, Maher's defense teams claim, because officials in Monaco waited nearly an hour after Ted Maher was taken to the hospital to begin an ill-fated rescue effort. Both victims died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Ted Maher, who police say has admitted that he started the fire as part of a plan to save Edmond Safra and make himself look like a hero, is expected to stand trial in Monaco this fall. This spring, the focus turned to Heidi Maher's allegations when Lily Safra was served a subpoena outside the trendy Manhattan restaurant Swifty's. Maher's lawyers asked Judge Beisner to order Lily Safra, her employees and others to answer questions under oath so that they could properly identify defendants in a planned lawsuit.

Ted Maher (Courtesy Tedmaher.com)

Beisner, in a five-page ruling made public this week, found that Heidi Maher provided so much detail in her affidavit in support of the motion that he believes she can present a complaint alleging breach of promise, negligence and loss of services.

"Since Ms. Maher has demonstrated that she possesses sufficient information to enable her to frame a complaint and identify defendants, the pre-action disclosure which she seeks is unavailable to her," Beisner ruled.

Wife Alleges Abduction

Following the deadly penthouse fire in 1999, Heidi Maher and her brother, Todd Wustrau, raced to Monaco after learning that Ted Maher lay wounded in a Monaco hospital.

Lily Safra's staff, according to court documents, sent a limousine to the airport to take Heidi Maher to Princess Grace Hospital to see her husband. Instead of going to the hospital, Heidi Maher said in an April 13 affidavit, the limo was diverted to a hotel and then to Monaco's police headquarters.

Heidi Maher claims police interrogated her for 90 minutes, telling her that they found a knife with a six-inch blade in her husband's pocket and that they suspected that he inflicted stab wounds to his abdomen and stomach as part of his plan to appear a hero.

"My brother and I were then instructed by the police to wait outside while Safra nurse Sonia Casiano, who spoke French, ... sought permission for me to visit my husband," Heidi Maher said in the sworn affidavit. "While we were waiting for Sonia to emerge from the interrogation room, out of nowhere, two men and a woman dressed in black jump suits bearing no identifying markings grabbed me and my brother and forced us into a car ... We were being kidnapped and I thought [we] were going to die."

Heidi Maher (Court TV)

According to the affidavit, Heidi Maher claims police used her passport to coerce Ted Maher into confessing that he started the fire that killed Safra and Torrente, and inflicted stab wounds on himself.

Lily Safra's attorney, Stanley Arkin of New York, argued in court papers in opposition to Heidi Maher's motion that the effort amounted to little more than a ploy to get information that Ted Maher might use to defend himself against criminal charges that could land him in prison for the rest of his life.

"I think if they were to bring any action in New York they would almost certainly lose and suffer costs and damages," Arkin said in an interview with Court TV. "Any action they would bring would be pure baloney."

"It is plain that Mrs. Maher has brought this Application for pre-action discovery in her ongoing efforts to discredit law enforcement authorities in Monaco and to obtain discovery for use in Monaco proceedings, which otherwise would be unavailable to Mr. Maher," Arkin wrote in response to the motion which Beisner denied July 25.

In a June 7 letter to the Mahers' congresswoman, a senior judicial official denied that Heidi Maher was kidnapped or held against her will.

Next Step Unclear

Heidi Maher's attorney, Mark Kurzmann, declined to say whether she intends to file a lawsuit against Safra and nine others she believed took part in her detention in Monaco.

In a written statement, Kurzmann put the best face on a ruling that did not go his client's way.

"He found that her actionable claims against certain parties were strong enough so that she may file a lawsuit without any further information," the statement says. "All of the named potential defendants and witnesses had opposed Maher's motion, arguing that there was no case in New York to be filed against anyone ... This is very gratifying, especially in light of the vigorous opposition our motion had received."

Joseph Matalon, a lawyer representing all of the respondents except Lily Safra, said his side prevailed despite Kurzmann's spin.

"The judge denied his application. He basically sent him packing," Matalon said. "The judge said, 'I'm not going to let you have pre-action discovery.' If Kurzmann wants to file a complaint, we'll file a motion to dismiss and expect that it would be granted. At a minimum, the case doesn't belong in New York. All the salient events happened in Monaco."

No trial date has been set in the criminal case.