Notarantonio v. Notarantonio
| Decision Date | 18 January 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 2006-121-Appeal.,2006-121-Appeal. |
| Citation | 941 A.2d 138 |
| Parties | Mary NOTARANTONIO v. James A. NOTARANTONIO et al. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
John D. Deacon, Jr., Esq., Providence, for Plaintiff.
Karen A. Pelczarski, Esq., Providence, for Defendant.
Present: WILLIAMS, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, SUTTELL, and ROBINSON, JJ.
Justice SUTTELL, for the Court.
The plaintiffs, Carolyn M. DelFarno and Beverly Forte,1 appeal from a January 5, 2006 judgment in favor of the defendants, James A. Notarantonio, Susan Antonio, and Lisa Notarantonio2 in this dispute over gifts of stock in a family business and real estate. After a nonjury trial, the trial justice entered a judgment in favor of the defendants concerning all claims against them, with the exception of a judgment for the plaintiffs rescinding the transfer of seventeen shares of stock in JGF Realty, Inc. and awarding them the sum of $4,539 for distributions attributable to those shares. The defendant, James A. Notarantonio, has filed a cross-appeal challenging the rescission and monetary award. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court in all respects.
The trial justice quoted Shakespeare to characterize the family dispute that engendered this lawsuit: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child."3 Regrettably, it is apparent that this once close-knit family has become irreparably fractured in a way that judicial opinions are not likely to repair.
Mary Notarantonio and her husband, Fred, lived in North Providence, Rhode Island. They had three children, a son, James, and two daughters, Carolyn and Beverly.4 Adjacent to the family home was an automobile dealership, Notarantonio Brothers Ford, a dealership which Fred owned with his two brothers, Joe and Guy. Each brother owned one-third of the stock in the corporation that operated the dealership, Notarantonio Brothers, Inc. (Notarantonio Brothers). The brothers also owned a separate corporation, JGF Realty, Inc. (JGF), which owned the land on which the Ford dealership was located. Notarantonio Brothers Ford leased from JGF the land upon which the dealership operated.
In or about 1957, Mary, Fred, and James acquired as joint tenants a summer home in Jamestown, Rhode Island. Later, in 1962 and 1964, Fred and Mary, as joint tenants, received conveyance of two unimproved beachfront"parcels in. Jamestown. Additionally, the couple owned a vacation home in Pompano Beach, Florida, and a rental property in North Providence, Rhode Island.
The trial justice concluded that, with respect to financial matters, Fred and Mary clearly favored James over their daughters. Not only did they place James's name on the deed as a joint tenant in their Jamestown summer residence, but also they bought James an unimproved lot upon which to build a home when he was married. Fred and Mary also gave James $100,000 to start a business. In 1968, Fred gave James eight of his thirty-three and one-third shares of Notarantonio Brothers stock; James later became an officer and director of the corporation. In addition, Fred's estate plan left all his assets to Mary; but it indicated that if she should predecease him, then the stock in the family businesses and real estate would pass to James.
After Fred's death in 1982, Mary continued to be very generous to James, and they enjoyed a close relationship. They lived together for much of the time in North Providence and spent time together in both Jamestown and Pompano Beach. Mary also executed a will and a pour-over trust, which left all her stock and real property to James.
In 1985, Notarantonio Brothers ceased operating the Ford dealership, and JGF subleased the land to Rizzo Ford. Also around this time, Mary sold a parcel of land adjacent to the Ford dealership to JGF through an installment agreement. Mary received a check each month from this sale. It was also during this time period that James was indicted, convicted, and incarcerated for having made false statements in connection with programs involving federal money. In, addition, he was indebted to the Internal Revenue Service, which had placed a lien on his assets. Mary eventually paid the IRS approximately $100,000 to release the lien.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Notarantonio Brothers began to declare dividends for its shareholders. Mary, who owned only twenty-five and one-third shares of Notarantonio Brothers stock, received both her share and James's share of the dividends, part of which she spent for James's benefit. The trial justice characterized the foregoing as a scheme to hide James's assets from the IRS.
It is at this point that plaintiffs' and defendants' versions of events began to differ considerably.
The plaintiffs' version of the events is as follows. After Fred's death in 1982, Mary contended that James began to badger her about transferring title to the Jamestown properties to him. After his release from prison in 1988, he became increasingly insistent and forceful until she finally and angrily relented when she was in a "weakened and sickly condition." Thus, in 1994, she transferred the Jamestown summer home and one of the unimproved lots to James. She did retain, however, the second lot, which she later sold for $48,000.
In September 1994, Mary underwent open-heart surgery. She testified that when she returned home after her surgery Richard Foley, the bookkeeper for Notarantonio Brothers and JGF, paid her an unexpected visit. Mr. Foley placed papers in front of Mary for her signature and began to speak to her about the businesses. James then came into Mary's home and interrupted the conversation. According to Mary, James told her "[t]he business is not a business." James's statement about the companies confused Mary because she believed that the company was always a business. James told Mary "[w]ell things had to be put together" to ease her confusion about the state of the businesses. Mr. Foley assured Mary that she would "still get [her] money" if she signed the documents, which, she testified, she believed meant she would still get her monthly dividend check from Notarantonio Brothers, Inc. Mary said she signed the documents that Mr. Foley had given her without reading them and without anyone reading the documents to her. Mr. Foley did not leave Mary a copy of the documents she had signed.
Later, Mary and James's relationship began to deteriorate. Mary discovered that James had started to look for property in the Florida Keys. Mary testified she was hurt that James did not tell her about his plans to buy property in Florida. In addition, one time when Mary went to the Jamestown vacation home to visit James, James left for the beach and did not offer Mary any food or chink. The lack of food and drink made Mary lightheaded and she required hospitalization. Mary also contended that James continually told her "everything belonged to him."
Mary further testified that one day James used an epithet in reference to his late father. James's statement upset Mary greatly, so she called her daughter, Carolyn. Carolyn came to Mary's house immediately to comfort her. Mary told Carolyn that James had been telling her repeatedly that everything Fred had left when he died belonged to James. In an effort to calm her mother, Carolyn read Fred's will to Mary to show Mary that she did own all her late husband's property. Mary then told Carolyn that she had signed some papers that Mr. Foley had brought to her, but Mary said she did not know the content of the papers she had signed. Carolyn called Mr. Foley and asked him to bring Mary copies of the documents."
Several days later, Mr. Foley brought the papers Mary had signed shortly after her open-heart surgery to Mary's home in the presence of both Carolyn and Beverly. Mr. Foley brought three separate stocktransfer documents and two deeds. The three stock-transfer documents each had different dates: December 22, 1993, May 16, 1994, and January 2, 1995. Both deeds were dated September 27, 1994.
When Mr. Foley presented Mary with the papers, she said she did not recall signing them and was unaware of the contents of the documents. Carolyn and Beverly asked Mr. Foley why he had not read the documents to Mary before she signed them. Mr. Foley said that he did not have time to read Mary the documents because James suddenly came into Mary's house. Mr. Foley allegedly stated to Carolyn and Beverly that James "could have had it all, but he didn't want to wait." During Mr. Foley's visit, Carolyn and Beverly noticed that a signature on the stock-transfer document dated January 2, 1995 that purportedly transferred seventeen shares of JGF stock to James did not look like Mary's signature.
Several weeks later Mary asked to see an attorney. Mary said she wanted to see an attorney because she realized she was not receiving her stock dividends as Mr. Foley had told her she would. Mary said she decided to wait to file suit, however, because she hoped that James would change his mind and feared that a lawsuit would hurt his daughter Susan's law school graduation and legal career.
James, Susan, and Lisa offered a different version of some key events. Susan testified that Mary was anxious to transfer her assets to James and was frustrated that she had to wait to make any transfer until. James settled his debt with the IRS. James said that after Mary's open-heart surgery Mary told him to "[g]o get everything squared away" concerning her estate planning. Mary told James to leave her with three pieces of property: one unimproved lot in Jamestown, the rental home. in North Providence, and the vacation home in Pompano Beach, Florida. According to James, Mary then told him to finalize the transfers before she left to recover from the surgery in Florida. James then made the decision to transfer a portion of the stock to his...
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