Lefebvre v. Shea
| Citation | 212 A.D.2d 884,622 N.Y.S.2d 151 |
| Parties | Clark LEFEBVRE, as Administrator of the Estate of Ann E. Witbeck, Deceased, Respondent, v. Gale D. SHEA et al., Appellants. |
| Decision Date | 09 February 1995 |
| Court | New York Supreme Court Appellate Division |
O'Connell and Aronowitz (Neil H. Rivchin, of counsel), Albany, for appellants.
Arnold C. Peer P.C. (John T. Casey Jr., of counsel), Troy, for respondent.
Before MIKOLL, J.P., and MERCURE, CREW, YESAWICH and PETERS, JJ.
Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court (Conway, J.), entered September 21, 1993 in Albany County, which granted plaintiff's motion for the appointment of a temporary receiver.
Plaintiff, the administrator of the estate of Ann E. Witbeck, brought this action charging defendant Gale Shea, who served as decedent's conservator for 12 years, and defendant James T. Shea, her husband, with, among other things, fraud, conversion and breach of fiduciary duties, including misappropriation of the conservatee's funds. Supreme Court granted plaintiff's request for the appointment of a temporary receiver to take possession of, and to collect the rents from, an apartment building owned by defendants.
Considering the totality of the circumstances, Supreme Court did not abuse its discretion by appointing a receiver in this case, which has as its subject the specific funds of decedent's estate (see, Meurer v. Meurer, 21 A.D.2d 778, 250 N.Y.S.2d 817), and in which the relief sought comprehends an accounting of the defendants' handling of those funds. Significantly, the record of a prior proceeding, in which a review of Gale Shea's final accounting of the conservatorship was had, provides ample indication that defendants commingled estate funds with their own, and engaged in conduct in connection with their management of conservatorship assets that is highly suspect, if not fraudulent--the disposition of some $790,000 is inadequately accounted for or insufficiently explained. It also appears that a considerable portion of the estate assets may have been funneled into defendants' personal bank accounts, from which they may be traceable to the apartment building in question. While defendants have attempted to demonstrate that they purchased the building with a loan secured by a mortgage on their primary residence and seller financing, their showing in this regard is not conclusive.
Plaintiff has also met his burden of demonstrating a likelihood that the property would be "materially injured or...
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LeFebvre v. New York Life Ins. and Annuity Corp.
... ... Shea, 212 A.D.2d 884, 622 N.Y.S.2d 151), plaintiff, as administrator of the estate of Ann E. Witbeck, seeks to recover funds allegedly converted or misapplied by Gale Shea, Witbeck's conservator, prior to Witbeck's death. In June 1983, Shea used $300,000 of conservatorship funds to purchase an ... ...
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