Hutnick v. Beil

• Decision Date: 26 March 2002
• Docket Number: No. ED 79448.,ED 79448.
• Citation: 84 S.W.3d 463
• Parties: Marian HUTNICK, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. Donald BEIL, Defendant/Respondent.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 463

84 S.W.3d 463

Marian HUTNICK, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. Donald BEIL, Defendant/Respondent.

No. ED 79448.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division Three.

March 26, 2002.

Rehearing Denied May 23, 2002.

Melroy B. Hutnick, Belleville, IL, for appellant.

James H. Ferrick III, James E. Crowe, Kevin T. McLaughlin, St. Louis, MO, for respondent.

ROBERT E. CRIST, Senior Judge.

Marian Hutnick (Daughter) appeals from the judgment granting the motion to dismiss of defendant Donald Beil (Son). We affirm.

Daughter and Son are the children of Lillian E. Beil (Mother) and Joseph E. Beil (Father), deceased. Prior to Father's death, he set up the JEB Trust. After his death, Son and Mother became co-trustees of the JEB Trust. In addition, Mother set up her own trust, the LEB Trust, of which she is sole trustee.

On January 12, 2000, Daughter filed a petition in St. Louis County Circuit Court against Son and Mother, as well as another daughter and Mercantile Bank (for purposes of this appeal, we will call this first lawsuit Hutnick I). In Count I, Daughter sought the removal of Son as a co-trustee of the JEB Trust, alleging Son had "intentionally and willfully ignored and violated his fiduciary duties and responsibilities to [Daughter] by embarking on a scheme to create disharmony within the Beil family for the purpose of alienating [Daughter] from her mother." In this count, Daughter made multiple allegations including: (1) Son concealed from Daughter Mother's move from Creve Coeur, Missouri to Rochester, New York; (2) Son made arrangements for the sale of Mother's home in Creve Coeur; (3) Son led Mother to believe that Daughter was going to sue her and instructed Mother not to discuss the JEB Trust with Daughter; (4) Son refused to communicate with Daughter except through his attorney; (5) Son planted a file at Mercantile Bank with false and misleading information about Daughter; (6) Son unduly influenced Mother; (7) Son failed to contact Daughter when he has brought Mother to St. Louis; (8) Son continues to use legal services of attorneys even after knowing of their misconduct and conflicts of interest; (9) Son exercised undue influence over Mother to get her to change her estate plans; (10) Son transferred more than two million dollars from the JEB Trust to himself; (11) Son wasted forty thousand dollars settling a lawsuit; (12) Son approved of fees paid to Mercantile Bank; and (13) Son persuaded Mother to modify her estate plan to exclude Daughter. Daughter also made multiple allegations that Son had caused assets of the trust to be removed and dissipated, as well as directing Mercantile Bank to refuse any explanation to Daughter.

In Count II, Daughter sought the removal of Mother as co-trustee of the JEB Trust, alleging she was under the "dominion and control" of Son and was incompetent to serve as a trustee. In Count III, Daughter sought the removal of Mother as trustee of the LEB Trust for the same alleged reasons in Count II. In Count IV, Daughter alleged tortious interference with a valid expectancy of inheritance by Son. She alleged Son had persuaded Mother not to give her an advance on her inheritance for a new house, which she alleged was the custom in the Beil family. She also alleged Son had persuaded Mother to transfer millions of dollars from the JEB Trust to her own trust and then modify that trust to exclude Daughter.

On July 10, 2000, the circuit court dismissed Counts III and IV, finding Daughter did not have standing to bring them. Daughter appealed from this dismissal, but this Court granted Son's motion to dismiss because there was no final appealable judgment. Hutnick v. Beil, No. ED78295 (order dated January 11, 2001). Count II against Mother was eventually dismissed as moot after Mother resigned as co-trustee of the JEB Trust. Count I remains pending in the St. Louis County Circuit Court.

On October 12, 2000, Daughter filed a second lawsuit against Son in St. Louis County Circuit Court (Hutnick II). In this petition, Daughter sought five million dollars in damages from Son for breaching his fiduciary duty to her, a beneficiary of the trust. Daughter alleged Son: (1) withheld information about the JEB Trust; (2) prevented Daughter from obtaining information about the management of the trust; (3) assisted Mercantile Bank in planting information in their file to injure Daughter; (4) concealed from Daughter that Mother had resigned as co-successor trustee; (5) assisted Mercantile Bank in forcing Daughter to file lawsuits to obtain information; (6) made decisions about the JEB Trust that were to his own benefit; (7) concealed from Daughter that he used his position to cause Mother to change her estate plans; (8) approved of fees from the trust to Mercantile Bank; (9) transferred millions of dollars from the trust; (10) knew that Mercantile had been negligent in disposing of stock from the Lindner Fund; (11) knew attorney had committed legal malpractice in Father's estate; (12) failed to maintain $600,000 in the trust account; and (13) persuaded Mother not to provide funds to Daughter to buy a new house.

On November 21, 2000, Son filed a motion to dismiss Daughter's petition, alleging her present action was barred by res judicata and that Daughter had improperly split her cause of action. Attached to the motion to dismiss was a copy of the petition and the judgment in the first lawsuit. On April 11, 2001, the circuit court granted Son's motion to dismiss and dismissed Daughter's petition, but did not state the reasons for its dismissal....