WAILUKU – Second Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto said Wednesday he was inclined to deny a request that Laurence “Baron” Dorcy’s $80 million estate pay fees for attorneys contesting the Kula resident’s will and trust.
The judge asked that the request for attorneys’ fees be “properly itemized and justified” in court filings before a continued hearing on the matter Dec. 28. Raffetto said fees would have to be found to be reasonable before being paid.
“This is not the usual case. There’s a lot of money involved here, other people’s money,” Raffetto said. “There’s a high interest in transparency, fairness and equity with regard to how this money is spent.”
Dorcy, who died in Honolulu in June, named Morihara Store operator Hans Kanuha as the sole beneficiary in a 2011 will. But an earlier will divided the estate among several dozen charities, as well as Dorcy’s friends and relatives.
Dorcy’s longtime trust representative, Jeffrey Peterson, is challenging the validity of the second will, alleging that Dorcy was ill and incapable of knowing what he was doing when he changed the will and trust in January. Peterson also is challenging 2011 amendments to Dorcy’s 1997 trust that his attorneys say would give Kanuha control over trust assets.
Attorneys for Peterson, who has been named temporary trustee and special administrator, are asking that their fees be paid from Dorcy’s trust, pending a trial set for March 12.
In court Wednesday, Honolulu attorney Carroll Taylor, representing Peterson, said providing the itemized billing sought by the court would take time and “impact our trial preparation.”
Raffetto noted that staff from three law firms, including Taylor’s, are representing Peterson.
“We’re talking about lots of money,” Raffetto said. “I’m not just going to authorize carte blanche spending for attorneys’ fees.”
The judge said he wasn’t approving a contingency fee schedule that Peterson entered into with the attorneys. Taylor said the contingency fee would be triggered only if the attorneys weren’t paid on an hourly basis.
Taylor said the 2011 amendment to Dorcy’s trust includes the Laurence H. Dorcy Hawaiian Foundation, which has three members – Kanuha, his brother-in-law and Kanuha’s attorney, Glenn Kosaka.
An analysis showed that group would receive about 23 percent of Dorcy’s estate, Taylor said. “Once they get ahold of that money, who knows what they’re going to do,” he said.
But Wailuku attorney William Crockett, representing Kanuha in the trust litigation, said the Dorcy Hawaiian Foundation was in the original trust and was not amended by Dorcy.
“He laid out extensively what he intended by that request to that foundation to manage lands that were going to be planted in koa,” Crockett said. “That part of his original trust statement was never amended. It’s clear what he intended by that foundation, which was never organized. His intent has not changed. In none of the amendments did he ever amend that organization.”
Also on Wednesday, Raffetto denied a request by attorney Eric Young to allow attorneys from two California law firms to enter the case to help represent Pets In Need, St. Anthony Foundation and Golden Gate Railroad Museum, beneficiaries under Dorcy’s 2006 will. “I don’t think it’s going to be helpful or necessary to have outside counsel,” Raffetto said.
Attribution:
Attorneys’ fees up in air in Dorcy case
Lila Fujimoto
November 24, 2011
The Maui News
http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/555653/Attorneys–fees-up-in-air-in-Dorcy-case.html?nav=10
Estate of Denial® provides news, analysis and commentary on abusive practices occurring in probate courts and via probate instruments (wills, trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney). We provide original perspective to educate the public regarding this growing threat to both individual freedoms and property rights.
