Opinion ID: 1918200
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Public Land Records

Text: Appellees argue, and we agree, that the Thompson Affidavit merely reiterated facts already available in the public land records. That affidavit states that Mr. Thompson made a bid for the Q Street property on behalf of Designmark when it was sold at auction on June 29, 1995. After his bid was accepted, Thompson paid for the property with Designmark funds but told the auctioneer that he was an agent of Taurus, a fictitious entity and alter ego of Designmark. [16] Mr. Thompson then received a deed conveying the Q Street property to Taurus. Later, however, when he consulted with the law firm of Ginsburg, Feldman, and Bress, counsel to Designmark, he was advised that the deed was invalid. Mr. Thompson then instructed Daniel Hodin, an attorney from Ginsburg, Feldman, and Bress, where Mr. McNair was a partner, to return the deed to the auctioneer and request a valid deed conveying the Q Street property to Designmark. That was done. [17] The Substitute Trustee's Deed and the Confirmatory Substitute Trustee's Deed revealed all of the facts necessary to support Mrs. Drake's claim of fraud. [18] These two deeds showed that Taurus, a fictitious entity, had originally purchased the Q Street property and that the property thereafter had been conveyed to Designmark, which Mrs. Drake already knew was a beneficiary of the Drake Trusts. Mrs. Drake was therefore on inquiry notice that the Q Street property might have been transferred from an estate asset (assuming that the non-existent Taurus was not acting as the alter ego of Designmark) to a trust asset. In addition, the Confirmatory Trustee's Deed revealed Mr. Hodin's involvement in the transfer of the Q Street property. The Thompson Affidavit contained no additional information, beyond that contained in the two deeds, that would have supported Mrs. Drake's claims of fraud. The only document that potentially contained additional pertinent information was the letter from Ms. Royster and Mr. McNair to Smith Barney, in which they, as personal representatives of Mr. Drake's estate, agreed to indemnify Smith Barney for any liability resulting from the retitling of the Q Street property. Mrs. Drake now argues that this letter supports her assertion that Taurus was a distinct legal entity because it had an account with Smith Barney, and thus that Taurus was not acting as the alter ego of Designmark when it purchased the Q Street property, but rather as an agent of Mr. Drake. Although the Royster-McNair letter did contain information unavailable in either the public land records or Mr. McNair's 1997 deposition, we find it significant that Mrs. Drake did not even become aware of the letter until August 7, 2007 (according to her reply brief), more than two years after she filed this suit in May 2005. The conclusion is inescapable that ample information from other sources prompted her to file this suit, and that the Royster-McNair letter has no bearing on this appeal.