Scottrade, Inc. v. Davenport

• Decision Date: 05 June 2012
• Docket Number: Case No. CV–11–3–BLG–RFC.
• Citation: 873 F.Supp.2d 1306
• Parties: SCOTTRADE, INC., an Arizona, Corporation, Plaintiff, v. Kristine DAVENPORT, individually, Shane M. LeFeber, individually, Christopher Gibbons, individually, Kimberly Chabot, individually, Patricia Faller, individually, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Montana

873 F.Supp.2d 1306

SCOTTRADE, INC., an Arizona, Corporation, Plaintiff,

v.Kristine DAVENPORT, individually, Shane M. LeFeber, individually, Christopher Gibbons, individually, Kimberly Chabot, individually, Patricia Faller, individually, Defendants.

Case No. CV–11–3–BLG–RFC.

United States District Court,

D. Montana,

Billings Division.

June 5, 2012.

Kristine Davenport, Missoula, MT, pro se.

Jeffery J. Oven, Michael James Tennant, Crowley Fleck, Billings, MT, John B. Horrell, Jon G. Beal, Beal Law Firm, Missoula, MT, for Defendants.

Kimberly Chabot, Olympia, WA, pro se.

ORDER RE: MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

RICHARD F. CEBULL, District Judge.

I. Introduction

Scottrade, Inc., an online brokerage firm, filed this interpleader action in early 2011 to resolve ownership of the account of a deceased account holder, James LeFeber (“Jim” or “LeFeber”). Although LeFeber executed a Transfer on Death Beneficiary Plan (“TOD Plan”) a month before his death directing how his Scottrade account should be distributed, one of his beneficiaries, Defendant Kristine Davenport, a former girlfriend, claims entitlement to the entire account. The four other beneficiaries do not contest the TOD Plan. When Davenport refused to release Scottrade from liability if it distributed the proceeds pursuant to Jim's TOD Plan, Scottrade filed this action and placed the proceeds of the account in the Court registry pending resolution of Davenport's claims. Named as defendants were all five beneficiaries named in the TOD Plan.¹

Once the proceeds of the Scottrade account were placed in the Court registry, Scottrade was dismissed from the case. Doc. 42. Since Scottrade acted prudently in filing this suit and placing the money in the Court registry, the Court ordered that Scottrade recoup its attorney fees from the proceeds held by the Court. Id. In doing so, the Court expressly reserved ruling as to whom the approximately $6,000 in attorney fees would be charged. Id.

Defendant Shane LeFeber (“Shane”) is the son of Jim's longtime girlfriend Maggie Johnson, who was with Jim from the 1980's until she left him in 2005 or 2006. LeFeber and Johnson moved to Florence, Montana together in 1994. Johnson and LeFeber were involved in litigation over the house in Florence until 2007. Jim and Shane were close and remained so after the relationship ended, with Shane siding with Jim over his mother. Jim considered Shane his step-son and left him his residuary estate, his oil and gas leases, and 56% of the Scottrade account. Shane spent considerable time away from his family in Bend, Oregon to care for Jim in Montana over the last months of his life.

Defendant Patricia Faller was LeFeber's neighbor in Florence since he moved to the Bitterroot Valley in 1994. Over the years, and especially after Maggie left, Jim had holiday meals with Faller and her husband Arnold. As soon as Jim learned he was ill, he immediately designated Faller as his attorney-in-fact. She was designated in his will as the personal representative of his estate and was given his home and his beloved dog and cat. Under the TOD Plan, she is entitled to 4% of the Scottrade account. Faller has retained counsel for this lawsuit.

Christopher Gibbons met Jim LeFeber in 1979, when Jim moved across the road from Gibbons and his parents in Idaho. Jim was a father figure to Gibbons, helping him and his brothers through some difficult family times in their teenage years. Gibbons avers that Jim's compassion and love made an enormous difference in his life. Jim asked that Gibbons be there when he died and Gibbons complied, taking time away from his family and work in Idaho to take care of Jim during his last two months. Jim left 16% of his Scottrade account to Gibbons. Gibbons is proceeding pro se.

Defendant Kimberly Chabot, also proceeding pro se, developed a close friendship with LeFeber after they met on the Internet in 2006. They spent two weeks together in Hawaii and had frequent telephone and email contact until Jim died in 2010. Jim left Chabot 8% of his Scottrade account.

Kristine Davenport ² met Jim LeFeber in July of 2007. Their relationship quickly became romantic, but Jim decided to put space in the relationship in the Fall of 2007 when Davenport took a sudden interest in his money. There is no evidence of a romantic relationship between LeFeber and Davenport after 2007, but Davenport nonetheless maintains that LeFeber's TOD Plan and will are invalid and that she is entitled to his estate. Primarily, Davenport argues that she and Jim entered into an oral contract in 2007 through which he agreed to leave her everything so long as she stayed with him “emotionally” until his death. Davenport further contends that soon after this contract, LeFeber made a new will and TOD Plan putting this oral contract into effect.

Davenport has used her knowledge of the law to allege virtually every cause of action that is conceivable under her self-serving theories of Jim's estate planning, death, and cremation. Specifically, she alleges Defendants engaged in a civil conspiracy to interfere with the alleged 2007 oral contract and will through fraud, duress, undue influence, and breach of fiduciary duty, as well as other causes of actions, some of which are not recognized by Montana law. Davenport's most scandalous claims are that the Defendants murdered LeFeber and spoliated the evidence of his murder by illegally cremating him in order to prevent him from changing the estate plan he made because of Defendants' undue influence. As discussed in this lengthy Order, all these claims are patently frivolous.

Defendants Faller, LeFeber, Chabot, and Gibbons have all asserted claims against Davenport, seeking a declaratory judgment that the account be distributed as provided by in the TOD Plan and that their attorneys fees and costs be paid by Davenport's portion of the Scottrade account. They further argue that Davenport's share of the account be held by the Court until it can be determined whether Davenport is responsible for attorneys fees incurred by Scottrade and the other Defendants. Faller further proposes that she be awarded pre-judgment interest to be paid from Davenport's share of the account and that Davenport's share be held by the Court in a constructive trust for the benefit of the other Defendants until appeals in this matter have been fully exhausted to ensure that their shares of the account not be depleted by attorneys fees.

Currently pending before the Court are nine motions for summary judgment. Shane ( doc. 162 ) and Faller ( doc. 166 ) have filed motions for summary judgment arguing that Jim's TOD Plan should be enforced as written and that all of Davenport's claims to the contrary are baseless. Gibbons and Chabot, proceeding without counsel, have joined in these motions. Doc. 190.

The remaining six motions for summary judgment are filed by Davenport. The first is against Faller. Doc. 170. Although the motion states it relates to all the claims between them, it really only addresses the undue influence claim, with some passing references to how Faller allegedly gave Jim an overdose of painkillers to prohibit him from changing his estate plans. Doc. 171. Of the two motions for summary judgment Davenport filed against Shane LeFeber, the first is very similar to the one against Faller, docs. 172 & 173, while the second relates to Shane's alleged spoliation of evidence. Docs. 176 & 177. Davenport followed this same course of action against Gibbons, the first motion primarily addressing the alleged undue influence, docs. 174 & 175, whereas the second motion argues Gibbons's share of Jim LeFeber's Scottrade account should be forfeited under the equitable doctrine of unclean hands. Docs. 178 & 179. Finally, Davenport's sixth motion for summary judgment seeks judgment as a matter of law that she is not liable for attorneys fees incurred by Scottrade or the other Defendants in this lawsuit. Doc. 182.³ Davenport did not seek judgment as a matter of law on her claims against Kimberly Chabot.

II. Factual Background⁴

The following facts are compiled from Shane LeFeber's Statement of Undisputed Facts (“SSUF”) ( doc. 164 ), Patricia Faller's Statement of Undisputed Facts (“FSUF”) ( doc. 168 ), Shane's Statement of Genuine Issues (“SSGI”) ( doc. 203), Faller's Statement of Genuine Issues (“FSGI”) ( doc. 205 ), Davenport's Statement of Genuine Issues (“DSGI”) ( doc. 198 ), and Davenport's Statement of Undisputed Facts (“DSUF”) ( doc. 181 ). Consistent with her history in this case and others the Court has learned about, Davenport did not comply with this Court's Local Rules of Procedure with her statements of undisputed facts in support of her two motions for summary judgment ( docs. 181 & 185 ) or her statement of genuine issues in opposition to the Defendants' motions ( doc. 198 ). Rather than setting forth in serial form each fact she relies on to support or oppose a motion, coupled with citations to a specific pleading, deposition, discovery response, or affidavit, L.R. 56.1 Davenport filed long, single-spaced narratives that she attempts to support by the filing of affidavits in which she swears that the facts within the statements are true and correct and based on personal knowledge. See docs. 180–81, 184–85, & 198–99. The majority of these narratives are speculative and are not supported by admissible evidence. After spending a significant amount of time with this case, it has become clear that Davenport's method is to take a statement in an email, hospice report, or other document, isolate it, view it through the lens of her conspiracy theory, and then cite it as evidence. Other than the emails and hospice reports, Davenport's only evidence is a voided will and an unexecuted TOD Plan from 2007. But since Davenport is proceeding pro se, even though she is an attorney and the Court has no obligation to “scour the record in search of a genuine triable fact,” Keenan v. Allan, 91 F.3d 1275, 1279 (9th...