Opinion ID: 1481116
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Background: Sally Jumper, Allen Anderson, and Jan Verfurth.

Text: Sally Jumper led an interesting life. Born in Detroit, Michigan, in the early 1920s, Ms. Jumper, an only child who never married, was educated at the Connecticut College for Women. As a young woman, Ms. Jumper worked as an interior designer, traveled in Europe, and went on to become an accomplished painter, sculptor, and musician. Although Ms. Jumper was stricken with blindness as an adult, she continued to be independent and worked as a psychotherapist until her retirement. In 2002, when the litigation that led to the present appeals began, Ms. Jumper lived at a continuing care facility in Washington, D.C. [1] We do not know precisely when she died, but the record tells us that by March 2004 Ms. Jumper had passed away. Allen Anderson, one of the appellants in this case, was a long-time friend of Ms. Jumper's. At the sanctions hearing, Mr. Anderson described how he first saw Ms. Jumper decades before the proceedings began, when he was riding the bus to work. As Mr. Anderson recalled, he saw this blind lady walking with her seeing-eye dog and wonder[ed] whether she would need books and articles and papers read to her. Mr. Anderson approached Ms. Jumper the next day, and they struck up a 30-odd year relationship that, according to Mr. Anderson, left people thinking that the two were husband and wife. Ms. Jumper also had a long-standing, albeit less personal, relationship with Colonel Jan Verfurth. Col. Verfurth (who, as we shall learn, turned out to be a nemesis of Mr. Anderson's) testified that he first met Ms. Jumper in 1984 or 1985 when he was introduced to Ms. Jumper to serve as her stockbroker and financial adviser. According to Col. Verfurth, by 1995 Ms. Jumper's portfolio had grown nicely, so Col. Verfurth recommended that Ms. Jumper consider some trust planning documents. Ms. Jumper agreed with the suggestion, and Col. Verfurth set up a meeting for Ms. Jumper with I. Mark Cohen, an attorney specializing in estate planning. Mr. Anderson drove Ms. Jumper to the meeting where Ms. Jumper signed her estate-planning documents, but did not take part in that meeting himself. According to Col. Verfurth, Mr. Cohen advised Mr. Anderson, sir, you will not be able to attend the signing because you are mentioned in the will and it would be inappropriate for you to be there.