Appeals court cuts ‘unconscionable’ estate legal bill from $44M to perhaps $3M

Citing an “unconscionable” retainer agreement, a New York appeals court has reduced an estate’s legal bill from $44 million to what a lawyer for the winning side estimates will be a $3 million final tally. It also is requiring three members of Graubard Miller to return $5 million in gifts…

May 24, 2013 4:35 PM CDT

70 is not so old, say state court judges challenging mandatory retirement rule

Pennsylvania law mandates that state court judges retire when they are 70 years old, a rule which has been in existence since 1968. That’s discriminatory, say some jurists, who also object to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court taking control of their commonwealth court lawsuit challenging the rule. Bucks County Judge Alan…

May 22, 2013 6:45 PM CDT

Federal judge jails estate lawyer as flight risk, nixes ‘bizarre’ effort to revoke plea

A Rhode Island estate planning lawyer’s effort to revoke his guilty plea in a controversial $30 million elder insurance fraud case was a “bizarre” and unjustified “hatchet job” on Joseph Caramadre’s former counsel, a federal judge said Monday. U.S. District Judge William Smith not only nixed Caramadre’s bid for a…

May 21, 2013 11:09 AM CDT

WWII vet reaches fundraising goal in effort to prevent his daughter from evicting him

A World War II veteran who claimed breach of fiduciary duty by his daughter in a lawsuit is now trying to prevent her from evicting him with a fundraising appeal that reached its goal on Thursday. John Potter, 91, lived in his Zaleski, Ohio, home for 56 years, report ABC…

May 16, 2013 12:49 PM CDT

Author Harper Lee sues, says agent tricked her into signing over ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ royalties

At 87, the author of one of the most famous trial novels ever written has failing eyesight and hearing. And in 2007 author Harper Lee was recovering from a stroke when she signed away her royalties from her 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, to her literary agent, Samuel Pinkus,…

May 7, 2013 7:57 PM CDT

Frugal senior can’t use mileage points for final trip home because she will then be ‘cargo’

Thinking ahead, a woman in her mid-90s has raised the question of whether the mileage points she has accumulated with a major airline can be used for her final flight to her home state, after her demise. The answer, according to an airline spokesperson contacted by Dear Abby, is no.…

May 1, 2013 5:22 PM CDT

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May 1, 2013 9:50 AM CDT

Caregiver used legal documents to siphon $350K from elderly man’s assets, prosecutors say

Carmelita Pasamba met Marshall Davies, who was then 90 years old, in 2007, while working as a nursing assistant at an Illinois hospital at which he was a patient. Now Pasamba, 62, is facing a criminal case for allegedly siphoning off over $350,000 of his assets. She is charged with…

Apr 9, 2013 4:35 PM CDT

Lawyer and heiress’ son who were convicted in siphoning of $60M from Brooke Astor estate lose appeal

The son of an elderly heiress and a now-disbarred lawyer convicted of working together to siphon some $60 million from her estate have lost an appeal before a midlevel New York court. Following the determination that Anthony D. Marshall, 88, and Francis X. Morrissey Jr. were appropriately convicted in 2009…

Mar 27, 2013 9:15 PM CDT

Judge accused of stealing elderly neighbor’s $1.6M life savings resigns from bench

A California judge who is facing a 32-count case concerning his alleged theft of a now-deceased elderly neighbor’s life savings of $1.6 million or more has voluntarily stepped down from the Alameda County Superior Court bench. Judge Paul Seeman agreed to resign Thursday and never seek to serve on the…

Mar 21, 2013 10:40 PM CDT

Tipster tells police missing man was hospitalized; staff refused to say due to privacy law

When worried friends reported an 81-year-old man was missing from his home on Monday, one of the first things police in Salem, Ore., did was contact local hospitals. There was no sign of Thomas Dill there, so authorities and friends kept searching. After two days, an anonymous tipster told police…

Mar 11, 2013 4:17 PM CDT

After facility worker shuns 911 operator’s CPR advice, questions arise: Are legal fears the reason?

Updated: On the tapes, the 911 operator pleads with a caller to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation to a collapsed resident at an independent living facility. The caller, who had identified herself as a nurse, refuses, citing corporate policy. The elderly resident dies. The incident last month at Glenwood Gardens in Bakersfield,…

Mar 6, 2013 1:13 PM CST

Lawyer is disbarred for not telling authorities about employee’s misuse of client credit card

A Georgia attorney has been disbarred following her conviction of misprision of a felony due to an employee’s misuse of a guardianship client’s funds. In a brief order (PDF) on Monday, the court noted that Zondra Taylor Hutto had not responded to the disciplinary case and found that disbarment is…

Mar 4, 2013 6:27 PM CST

DC Circuit OKs Surviving-Spouse Suit re HUD Reverse-Mortgage Rules Said to Promote Foreclosure

A lawsuit contending that federal regulations contravene legislative intent by encouraging the foreclosure of reverse mortgages against borrowers’ surviving spouses has been given a green light by a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. Reversing a lower court’s dismissal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday…

Jan 4, 2013 6:50 PM CST

Family of Deceased Elderly Couple Dispute Guardian Lawyers over Tens of Thousands in Bills

Corrected: The battle between a court-appointed law firm and the family of an elderly couple that was in its care over legal fees is raising questions of the treatment of aging Americans by paid guardians and the lack of state processes to protect them. A judge appointed Virginia-based law firm…

Dec 4, 2012 11:00 PM CST