161 results for 'cat:"Trusts"'.
J. Kelly grants the coal company owner's estate's and the company's subsidiaries' motion to dismiss the miners' pension plan's trustees' suit alleging that the coal company's withdrawal from a collective bargaining agreement during its 2019 bankruptcy proceedings left the subsidiaries with $6.5 billion in withdrawal liability. Under the agreement, for trustees to take action on behalf of the plan, that action requires agreement by one of two union trustees and one of two employer trustees. In this case, the employer trustee pursuing the action was not properly appointed as a trustee, having been appointed as an alternate only for the purpose of addressing matters related to the bankruptcy. That trustee was not a "successor" trustee or otherwise sufficiently authorized to bring this suit.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Kelly, Filed On: March 30, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv567, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Employment, Erisa, trusts
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J. Buller finds that beneficiaries were properly denied termination of a trust because continuing the trust was necessary to carry out the decedent's objective of protecting beneficiaries from bad financial decisions should they receive lump payments. Affirmed.
Court: Iowa Court Of Appeals, Judge: Buller, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 22-2052, Categories: trusts
J. Méndez-Miró grants the conservation trust's motion for summary judgment on a landowner's claims it fraudulently induced him into executing a deed constituting a perpetual land conservation easement in favor of the trust over his real property, misrepresenting he would receive $750,000 in tax credits. The conservation easement is a voluntary agreement limiting use of a property to protect its natural, cultural or agricultural worth. The Puerto Rico Treasury Department’s denial of the tax credit is not illegal and does not render the deed null.
Court: USDC Puerto Rico, Judge: Méndez-Miró, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv1256, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Agriculture, Property, trusts
J. Stevens finds that while the trial court properly reinstated a prior summary judgment in a property dispute case, a portion of the order should be reversed for being overbroad. The specified paragraph in the order that prohibits the owners from "using or advertising the property for special events or other non-residential uses" is overbroad, so the case is remanded for the trial court to reconsider and redraft the language. Reversed in part.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Stevens, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 06-23-00080-CV, Categories: Civil Procedure, Property, trusts
J. Bender finds that the lower court improperly granted an emergency petition to compel a trustee to make distributions to the sole current beneficiary of the Trust of John S. Middleton, the managing partner and principal owner of the Philadelphia Phillies. An evidentiary hearing is needed to determine if the court has jurisdiction over this matter. Vacated.
Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court, Judge: Bender, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: J-A21034-23, Categories: Civil Procedure, trusts, Jurisdiction
J. Wecht finds that the lower court properly denied a trust termination in this case wherein an alumnus of the Virginia Military Institute asked if its asset-controlling foundation could manage the trust rather than the independent corporate trustee who has been managing it. The burdens borne by the trust do not meet the statutory criteria for termination. Affirmed.
Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Judge: Wecht, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: J-55-2023, Categories: Civil Procedure, trusts, Wills / Probate
J. May holds the trial court properly found in favor of the brother in this will contest. The sisters contest whether their brother properly challenged their petition for review of their mother's trust by filing a second petition to docket trust in the cause of action contesting the validity of an amended instrument opened by the sisters. The brother's petition to docket another amended instrument in the same cause of action where his sisters filed their petition to docket the first amended instrument sufficiently put them on notice regarding his challenge. Competing claims regarding the validity of the other instrument remain. Affirmed in part.
Court: Indiana Court Of Appeals, Judge: May , Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 23A-TR-807, Categories: trusts, Wills / Probate, Due Process
J. Jennings grants partial discovery to plaintiff trust owners in fiduciary duty claims by requiring defendant, the other trust owner, to produce documents related to a pair of prior business transactions. However, sanctions are not warranted because defendant did not act in bad faith when he originally declined to produce the evidence.
Court: USDC Western District of Kentucky, Judge: Jennings, Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv289, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Sanctions, trusts, Discovery
J. Russell mostly declines the stepfather's motion to dismiss in this fraud and fiduciary duty lawsuit concerning the administration of the mother's trust. The brothers have sufficiently alleged that the stepfather breached his fiduciary duties as the trustee by selling the house below market value, issuing an unsecured loan to his own son, and failing to pay ad valorem taxes on behalf of the trust. However, the brothers' claim for accounting is dismissed.
Court: USDC Western District of Oklahoma , Judge: Russell, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv917, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Fraud, trusts, Fiduciary Duty
J. Kelly finds that the trial court properly ruled against a construction company owner in a fraud case he filed against a trust that owned property he was contracted to renovate. When one of the members of the trust failed to pay the contractor for his services, he sued alleging various claims and was awarded a judgment against a single member of the trust, not the trust itself. The evidence shows that the single member of the trust that the contractor secured a judgment against acted alone in their actions and did not implicate the trust as a liable party. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Kelly, Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: 03-22-00441-CV, Categories: Construction, trusts, Contract
J. Mortensen finds that the trial court should have required trust beneficiaries to more adequately disclose their expected testimonies supporting a challenge to a trustee's handling of a trust, but the error was harmless because the trustee was allowed to depose them on the subjects of their testimony. Also, a computation of damages was not needed to remove the trustee for his refusal to distribute most of the trust assets, so its omission was harmless. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Mortensen, Filed On: February 29, 2024, Case #: 20220699-CA, Categories: trusts, Fiduciary Duty
J. Oliver finds the district court properly dismissed this trust promissory estoppel claim brought by a son against his father’s estate. The son alleges his father verbally agreed to leave the ranch to him, but in the will, it was left to the father’s grandsons. He fails to meet the burden of proof because the evidence of detrimental reliance was insufficient, and the court could not find an equitable remedy. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 20210415-CA, Categories: Evidence, Property, trusts
J. Bahr finds that the district court properly entered judgment dismissing a trust complaint without prejudice after issuing an order concluding the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The panel concluded the trusts are required to exhaust their administrative remedies before the North Dakota Industrial Commission prior to bringing their claims in district court. Affirmed.
Court: North Dakota Supreme Court, Judge: Bahr , Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 2024ND34, Categories: trusts, Jurisdiction
J. LaRose dismisses this appeal regarding real property between a pro se trustee and an enterprise company after the trial court granted the company’s motion for summary judgment because, in Florida, a trustee may not file on behalf of a trust pro se.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: LaRose, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 2D22-2455, Categories: Property, trusts
J. Nowell finds that the lower court improperly granted partial summary judgment to the trust in this family partnership dispute, regarding the heirs' claims "for judicial declarations that they are general partners" in the trust partnership. Accordingly, that part of the judgment must be remanded for further proceedings. The court also finds that the heirs failed to show "lost profit damages with reasonable certainty" and will vacate that paragraph of the final judgment. The judgment is otherwise modified and affirmed. Affirmed in part.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Nowell, Filed On: February 9, 2024, Case #: 05-22-00445-CV, Categories: Civil Procedure, Real Estate, trusts
J. Fenn finds that the lower court improperly ruled in favor of a trustee in a dispute where an individual tried to remove the trustee entirely from a trust. The lower court found that by filing such an action, the individual triggered a non-contest clause that disinherited him from the trust and prohibited legislation. But the lower court was reading into terms that "are not there," and in the language of the agreement, the removal provisions were not mandatory and there was nothing that triggered the no-contest clause. Reversed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fenn, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: S-23-0126, Categories: trusts
J. Liu finds that the probate court properly held that an amendment to a revocable trust was valid. A trust without explicit provisions precluding modification or requiring exclusive procedures for modification may be modified using the statutory procedures for revocation. Affirmed.
Court: California Supreme Court, Judge: Liu, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: S271483, Categories: trusts, Wills / Probate
J. Denney grants the brother’s motion to compel his sister to produce messages involving their dispute over the trust. Though the sister’s counsel argued that the messages shared with her son are not relevant, being the alleged breach of the agreement had already occurred, the messages may be relevant to the trust’s claims and defenses, particularly regarding possible additional breaches. The request for the imposition of spoliation sanctions is deferred.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Denney, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv375, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Family Law, trusts, Contract
J. Chutich affirms the Court of Appeals' conclusion that the district court did not abuse its discretion by removing a trustee of the charitable trust, which also owns a major regional bank. District courts may remove trustees for a "serious breach of trust," and such a breach may be a series of smaller breaches which, taken together, justify removal even if none of them would justify it alone. The trustee's pattern of self-dealing with trust resources, including support for an attempted hostile takeover of the bank by outside investors and abusive treatment of a trust grantee, qualifies under this definition.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Chutich, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: A22-0906, Categories: trusts, Fiduciary Duty
J. Combs finds the court of appeals improperly vacated the trial court's granting of summary judgment to the oil production company. The trustees say they are entitled to a greater royalty according to a lease agreement executed by their predecessors-in-interest. The trial court properly applied the 15-year statute of limitation to the trustees' quiet title claim, and in determining the quiet title claim accrued more than 15 years ago. No error is found in the court's denying the trustees' motion to compel production of title opinions in the company's possession. Whether the trustees hold marketable title is distinct from the issue of which lease controls. Vacated.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Combs , Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: 119366, Categories: Energy, Property, trusts