In re Ingersoll Trust, No. 05-PR-263.

• Decision Date: 19 June 2008
• Docket Number: No. 05-PR-756.,No. 05-PR-263.,No. 05-PR-337.
• Citation: 950 A.2d 672
• Parties: In re Loraine Boley INGERSOLL TRUST. William B. Ingersoll, et al., Appellants, v. Barbara J. Ingersoll, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

950 A.2d 672

In re Loraine Boley INGERSOLL TRUST.

William B. Ingersoll, et al., Appellants, v. Barbara J. Ingersoll, Appellee.

No. 05-PR-263.

No. 05-PR-337.

No. 05-PR-756.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued September 26, 2006.

Decided June 19, 2008.

Philip M. Musolino, with whom Lisa J. Dessel and Rena Schild, were on the brief, for the Ingersoll appellants.

Bennett Rushkoff, Assistant Attorney General, District of Columbia, with whom Robert J. Spagnoletti, Attorney General at the time the brief was filed, and Edward E. Schwab, Deputy Attorney General, Appellate Division at the time the brief was filed, for appellant, District of Columbia.

Michael F. Curtin, with whom Mark S. Carlin, was on the brief, Washington, for appellee.

David W. Wilmot filed a brief for amicus curiae Marriott Hospitality Public Charter High School, in support of appellants.

Before RUIZ, REID and FISHER, Associate Judges.

REID, Associate Judge:

These consolidated cases primarily involve a trust established by Loraine Boley Ingersoll prior to her death, a family foundation created under that trust, and a lawsuit filed by her daughter, appellee, Barbara J. Ingersoll, against her brothers, appellants, William B. Ingersoll, Henry G. Ingersoll, and Joseph W. Ingersoll, as well as against appellant, the District of Columbia. The Ingersoll brothers challenge several findings and conclusions of the trial court, dated December 9, 2004, including those relating to William's alleged undue influence over his mother, his alleged tortious interference with Barbara's inheritance of residential property, and his mother's testamentary intent; they also contest aspects of the trial court's judgment of February 25, 2005 (Appeal No. 05-PR-337). Furthermore, the Ingersoll brothers appeal trial court orders, dated May 4, 2005 and mailed on July 8, 2005, denying motions pertaining to their counterclaim which sought to restore to their mother's estate certain proceeds — mainly from a mutual funds account and a bank account (Appeal No. 05-PR-756). The District's appeal involves the trial court's judgment of February 25, 2005, as it related to a charitable family foundation created and funded out of assets from Mrs. Ingersoll's estate (Appeal No. 05-PR-263).

We are constrained to conclude that certain of the trial court's findings are not supported by the record and are clearly erroneous; and that certain of the court's conclusions, which may be traceable to the absence of relevant case law in this jurisdiction, rest on a misconception of applicable legal principles. We vacate the trial court's findings and conclusions pertaining to the undue influence and intentional interference with an expected inheritance counts of Barbara J. Ingersoll's complaint (Counts I and III), reverse its judgments regarding Counts I and III, and remand this case with instructions to enter judgment for appellants on Counts I and III of the complaint.

In addition, we reverse the trial court's apparent ruling that William had no standing to bring the conversion count of the counterclaim, but we remand this case to the trial court to determine the retroactive impact, if any, of the Uniform Nonprobate Transfers on Death Act on Count IV of William B. Ingersoll's counterclaim (the conversion count). However, we sustain the trial court's judgment concerning Count I of the counterclaim pertaining to a residential property.

FACTUAL SUMMARY

The record before us reveals that on March 14, 1999, Loraine Ingersoll, then an 88-year-old District of Columbia resident (whose husband, Dr. William Brown Ingersoll, died in 1977), entered Sibley Memorial Hospital where she later was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She underwent heart bypass surgery on March 27, 1999, due to congestive heart failure. On April 1, 1999, while she was still in the hospital, Mrs. Ingersoll executed five documents, including amendments to her trust and will, and signed a deed on April 6, 1999. She was discharged from the hospital on April 9, 1999, and she died on June 2, 2000.

After Mrs. Ingersoll's death, her four children, William Boley Ingersoll ("William"), Barbara Jane Ingersoll ("Barbara"), Henry Grant Ingersoll ("Henry"), and Joseph Warren Ingersoll ("Joseph"), became locked in an intense and unpleasant disagreement concerning their mother's testamentary intent and the distribution of her assets. The two main antagonists in this struggle were the children on whom Mrs. Ingersoll depended the most — Barbara, for her personal care as she aged and became ill, and William, her oldest son, for carrying out her wishes with respect to her estate.

In early 2001, Barbara filed a verified complaint against her brothers and the District of Columbia.¹ In Count I of her complaint, she alleged undue influence by William on her mother, thereby resulting in a restatement of the Loraine Boley Ingersoll Trust ("the Trust") and in William's control of twenty-five percent of her mother's estate, which he placed in the Ingersoll Family Foundation ("the Foundation"), a charitable foundation created after Mrs. Ingersoll's death.² In Count III ("Tortious Interference with an Expectancy"), Barbara asserted that William, as Trustee of the Trust, intentionally interfered with her receipt of real and personal property from her mother. She sought to invalidate (1) the restatement of the Trust as well as the creation of the Foundation, or William's control over the Foundation; and (2) William's judicial effort to evict her from the home on Dexter Street, in the Northwest quadrant of the District, in which she had resided with her mother.³ Barbara demanded deeds to the Dexter Street property, as well as the contents of that property, and a beach home in Delaware, including its contents; in the alternative, Barbara requested a monetary sum equal to the value of the Dexter Street and Delaware properties and their contents.⁴

In late March 2001, the Ingersoll brothers lodged an answer, and a counterclaim against Barbara relating to the Dexter Street property. Their counterclaim alleged loss of fair rental value, common law waste, and interference with prospective business advantage. The counterclaim also contained a conversion count which maintained that Barbara wrongfully converted personalty, mutual funds and bank accounts from her mother's estate.

The struggle between William and Barbara intensified in April and May 2001. In response to William's efforts to gain entry to inspect the Dexter Street property in connection with his role as personal representative of Mrs. Ingersoll's estate, and William's landlord and tenant complaint for possession, Barbara filed for a protective order, and for a show cause order pertaining to personal property in the Delaware home. Following a May 2001 hearing, the trial court appointed a receiver for the Trust. However, after the filing of pleadings by the siblings to reverse the appointment, and a hearing on those pleadings in September and October 2001, the trial court vacated its receivership order on November 1, 2001.

Subsequently, trial on Barbara's lawsuit began on June 17, 2002, but on that day the parties orally informed the trial judge that they had reached a settlement. On June 18, one of the parties stated that no agreement had been reached. Further delay in the trial occurred when one of the parties sought to enforce the purported settlement agreement, and hearings on the motion to enforce the purported agreement took place on four separate days in August, September and November 2002. Thereafter, when no settlement occurred, a new trial took place in late June and early July 2004, lasting nine days.⁵

Barbara, the plaintiff (appellee in this court), presented testimony from several witnesses. Some witnesses attempted to show that Mrs. Ingersoll intended that Barbara should get the Dexter Street and Delaware properties and their contents, and that Mrs. Ingersoll did not intend to create a charitable foundation. Francis Kane, who grew up in the same area of the District as the Ingersoll family, and who had a beach home in the same Delaware area as the Ingersoll family, spent time with Mrs. Ingersoll in July 1997 when he drove her from the Delaware beach to her Dexter Street home. During a conversation which Mrs. Ingersoll wanted "to be in trust," Mrs. Ingersoll said that the contents of the Dexter Street home, as well as the Dexter Street property and the Delaware property, were to go to Barbara "tax free" for her life, and then to all the grandchildren. Except for Mrs. Ingersoll's "charitable gift" to her college, the Ingersoll siblings should each receive one-quarter of her remaining estate. The word "foundation" never came up in any of Mr. Kane's conversations with Mrs. Ingersoll. On cross-examination, Mr. Kane acknowledged that his friendship with Barbara was "substantially closer" than that with her brothers. Around 1998, Barbara took her mother to an appointment with Barbara Deraad, Mrs. Ingersoll's hair stylist. According to Ms. Deraad, Mrs. Ingersoll said, "I want Barbara to have my home and everything in it." "The boys have their own homes." When Barbara Ingersoll visited Ms. Deraad in 2001, she was upset about the Delaware beach home that she could not buy.

Lawrence Gaffey, an accountant whose firm was retained to do accounting work for the Ingersoll family, had a telephone conversation with Mrs. Ingersoll around May 1996, but he did not recall the content of their conversation or any mention of a family foundation. Mr. Gaffey worked with a partner in his firm, Jon Deane, and Mr. Gaffey had limited involvement in estate planning for Mrs. Ingersoll. He had previously worked with Mr. Nudelman, "an excellent estate attorney." Mr. Gaffey, not William Ingersoll, recommended that the firm bring in Mr. Nudelman to work on Mrs. Ingersoll's estate planning.

Through testimony from attorneys and accountants, Barbara endeavored to establish that William determined Mrs....