Interdonato v. Interdonato

• Decision Date: 24 February 1987
• Docket Number: No. 85-373.,85-373.
• Citation: 521 A.2d 1124
• Parties: Andrew P. INTERDONATO, et al., Appellants, v. Paul F. INTERDONATO, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

521 A.2d 1124

Andrew P. INTERDONATO, et al., Appellants, v. Paul F. INTERDONATO, Appellee.

No. 85-373.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued January 7, 1986.

Decided February 24, 1987.

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John C. Lenahan, Fairfax, Va., with whom W. Gary Kohlman, Washington, D.C., was on the brief, for appellants. Paul F. Sheridan, Washington, D.C., also entered an appearance for appellants.

Leonard C. Collins, with whom Timothy J. Battle, Washington, D.C., was on the brief, for appellee.

Before MACK, FERREN and TERRY, Associate Judges.

TERRY, Associate Judge:

Appellants Antonia Interdonato Giordano and Andrew Interdonato, the widow and son of the late Guy Interdonato, appeal from an order granting appellee Paul Interdonato, an attorney and the brother of Guy Interdonato, summary judgment on all ten counts of their complaint. Appellants' principal claims are that appellee acted improperly as executor of his brother Guy's estate, as a trustee of a testamentary trust, and as an advisor to them, and that he unlawfuly altered Guy's will before it was admitted to probate. Appellee categorically denies all of these allegations. We affirm the judgment in part, reverse it in part, and remand the case for further proceedings.

I

Guy Interdonato died suddenly on April 19, 1953, at the age of thirty-one. His survivors included his widow Antonia and his son Andrew, who was then ten months old.¹ Antonia had come to the United States from Italy in 1951, at the age of nineteen, and could not speak, read, write, or understand English.

After Guy's death, his brother Paul promised Antonia that he would care for her and Andrew. According to Antonia, he also promised that he would serve as her advisor in all legal and business matters. Antonia relied on Paul's advice in conducting her personal, financial, and legal affairs because, she testified,² he had assured her that he "would take care of everything," and because she could speak with him in Italian and had no reason to doubt his good faith. Paul likewise testified that he had told Antonia he would take care of her needs.

Before his death, Guy had executed a will prepared by his attorney, Philip Rosenfeld. Guy told Antonia that he had drawn up a will, and that she would have no financial worries if he should die because he had left everything to her. A week or two after Guy's death, Mr. Rosenfeld brought a copy of the will to Antonia's home and left it with her. Since she could not read English, she asked Paul to read it and tell her what it said. Paul's account of what the will provided did not comport with what Guy had told her before he died. A few months later, Antonia testified, Paul told her that he had paid someone $1,000 to "get" the will and make a change in it, that he had changed it, and that "it was just a little bit different" from the way it was originally written. Paul then changed the subject of the conversation.

The will admitted to probate appointed Paul Interdonato and Philip Rosenfeld as joint executors of Guy's estate and as cotrustees of a testamentary trust. The principal assets of the estate were two nightclubs on Eighth Street, S.E., known as Guy's Place and the Roundup. The profits from these nightclubs, which were apparently successful business ventures, were kept in a safe in Guy's Place. The will left the businesses to Paul³ and established a trust for the benefit of Antonia, with a provision that when Andrew reached the age of twenty-one, the trust estate was to be divided, with one-half to go to Andrew and the remainder to remain in trust for Antonia. Small cash bequests were made to other relatives, and Guy's personal effects and household furnishings went directly to Antonia. The residue of the estate was to constitute the corpus of the trust.

Paul operated and managed the nightclubs from Guy's death in April 1953 until the latter part of 1956, but for his own benefit rather than that of the estate. He testified in 1964 that he did not know in 1953 that he was supposed to operate the businesses for the estate and not for himself.

In April 1963 Antonia filed an action against Paul, on her own behalf and as next friend of her son Andrew, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Mr. Rosenfeld was a co-plaintiff, and Paul was the sole defendant. The complaint alleged fraudulent conduct by Paul in his actions as executor, as trustee, and as Antonia's attorney. In it Antonia sought the removal of Paul as trustee; an accounting of all sums of money which had come into his possession since Guy's death, either individually, as executor, or as trustee, and of any sums which might be due to the estate, to the trust, or to Antonia; and $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Before the case was set to go to trial, Paul paid a visit to Antonia in her home. There he allegedly promised to provide for her and Andrew, to pay her legal expenses, and either to turn over Guy's Place to her at some time in the future⁴ or to leave it to Andrew in his will if she would dismiss the case. Weeping, he also told her that he would be put in jail by her lawyer, Jack Bindeman, if the case were to go forward. Antonia then instructed Mr. Bindeman to "stop the case" because she did not want to see Paul go to jail. Although Mr. Bindeman urged her not to drop the suit, it was eventually dismissed in 1966 with prejudice as to Antonia, which she later alleged she did not understand, and without prejudice as to Andrew.

While Andrew was growing up, he would occasionally "hear some things" about his father's great wealth and his uncle Paul's handling of the estate; but because he respected Paul and was intimidated by him, and because his mother would not discuss the subject with him, he never asked Paul about these rumors. When he was about nineteen, however, Andrew hired a law firm to investigate the possibility that Paul had been using money from Guy's trust for his own purposes, thereby depriving Andrew and Antonia of their rightful inheritance. A partner in the firm, Karl Feissner, wrote a letter to Paul questioning the handling of the trust and requesting an accounting. The letter also stated that Andrew and Mr. Feissner had "reviewed with interest the pleadings and depositions that were taken" in the 1963 civil action in the United States District Court.

In March 1972 Mr. Feissner's firm filed suit in Andrew's name in the Circuit Court of Prince George's County, Maryland, seeking an accounting from Paul for his handling of the testamentary trust.⁵ The complaint, which bore Andrew's signature, alleged that Paul was "wasting" the property and "making an improper use" of it. It asked for an appraisal of all real property which had ever been part of the trust corpus, a properly substantiated statement of income and expenses, a complete accounting, and such other relief as the court might find necessary. Andrew testified in 1983 that even though he signed the complaint in 1972, he did not read it and was not aware that the firm was filing suit against Paul.⁶ Eventually Andrew became unhappy with the firm's performance and terminated its services. Some time thereafter the suit was dismissed without prejudice and, according to Andrew, without his knowledge.

In 1973 Andrew needed some money to invest in a business venture. He discussed the matter with his accountant, Thomas Murphy, who told him "not to worry about that." Murphy, who was also a friend of Paul, said that Andrew could use the money in his father's estate or obtain a loan by pledging his anticipated inheritance as collateral. Andrew chose to obtain a bank loan for $25,000. When the note came due and Andrew needed the estate funds to pay it off, he went to see Murphy again. Murphy, who had spoken to Paul about the matter "many times," told Andrew that Paul would not give him any money unless he agreed to "drop everything," apparently referring to his suit in the Circuit Court.⁷ At first he refused, but because he was in urgent need of the money, Andrew eventually signed a document in Murphy's office — "whatever document it was" — without reading it.

The document was in fact a release discharging Paul from any and all claims with respect to the administration of the trust established under Guy's will. After Antonia signed it also, Andrew and Antonia received a check for $64,000, signed by Paul and drawn on the trust account. The release stated that Antonia and Andrew "understand the contents [of the release] and have executed the same of their own free will." It also provided that Antonia "does hereby waive any and all rights to the corpus of the Trust" and that "the Trustee [Paul] has been under no legal obligation to disburse the corpus of [the] Trust and has undertaken to do so in further consideration of the execution and delivery of this release." Andrew testified that he never received a copy of the release, and that at the time he signed it, he thought it was just a receipt. Antonia testified that the other signature on the release was hers, and the parties have so stipulated, but she had no recollection of signing the release or of discussing it with either Andrew or Paul.

Andrew entered law school in September 1977. He is now a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia Bars.

II

In November 1982 Antonia and Andrew filed this action in the Superior Court, seeking nullification of the will and a declaration that Guy had died intestate, a reopening of the probate proceedings, recognition of Antonia's right to renounce the will and claim her statutory share of Guy's estate, the creation of a constructive trust for Guy's Place, an accounting by Paul, and compensatory and punitive damages totaling more than thirty-seven million dollars. The complaint, in ten counts, alleged inter alia that Paul had breached his fiduciary duty as Antonia's attorney and had willfully and fraudulently failed to advise her of her legal...