Lawyer must pay client's estate $4.3M, including $2.6M penalty, judge rules
A California lawyer took advantage of a mentally ill client who was romantically fixated on him and improperly influenced her to leave all her money to him, a state-court judge determined in October.
Then, awarding damages just before Christmas in a lawsuit brought by charities that originally were to benefit from Siv Ljungwe’s estate, San Diego Superior Court Judge William Nevitt Jr. tripled them. The judge said attorney Carl Dimeff must not only reimburse $1.3 million to the estate but pay a $2.6 million penalty and interest, for a total of $4.3 million, according to U-T San Diego. An earlier U-T San Diego story provides additional details.
Dimeff plans to appeal, and said last week that he didn’t know until after Ljungwe’s death in 2010 that she had left her money to him, reports the Rakyat Post. A retired schoolteacher, Ljungwe had made her fortune, with her husband, through real estate investments.
Nevitt did not find the attorney’s explanation credible and said Dimeff prepared documents for the 2008 trust the judge invalidated.
Assuming that Nevitt’s ruling stands, it appears the money in Ljungwe’s estate will now go to the charities which previously were the beneficiaries of her estate plan under a 2004 trust.
Dimeff said he gave $400,000 to the charities when he settled Ljungwe’s estate, the Post reports.
