Opinion ID: 1481116
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mr. Anderson.

Text: Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive, Mr. Anderson, quoting Sir Walter Scott, [11] wrote of Col. Verfurth on September 9, 2002-that is, one day before Ms. Sloan moved to vacate the guardianship. Unfortunately for Mr. Anderson, the trial court found that he, not Col. Verfurth, was the one who was impelled by ulterior motives. On appeal, Mr. Anderson argues that the sanctions award was erroneous because (1) throughout the litigation Mr. Anderson merely followed the advice of his counsel; and (2) Mr. Anderson was motivated by his concern for Ms. Jumper, not because of animus toward Col. Verfurth or anyone else. We find neither argument persuasive. As with Mr. Rogers, although we ultimately rest our holding on Mr. Anderson's post-filing conduct, we begin by noting that Mr. Anderson's decision to file the Petition itself tests the boundaries of what is sanctionable. Although Mr. Anderson claimed that Ms. Jumper was taken advantage of beginning in 1995 and had begun to develop dementia in 1998 or 1999, he points to nothing that he did at those times to protect Ms. Jumper. Yet a mere six weeks after the 2001 Trust gave Col. Verfurth discretion over how to disburse Ms. Jumper's assets to Mr. Anderson, Mr. Anderson suddenly became alarmed, and started to document Ms. Jumper's supposed deterioration and his corresponding anger toward Col. Verfurth. Mr. Anderson's anger escalated, without any objective support, [12] until he filed the Petition. The Petition, however, made no mention either of the 2001 documents, or even of the estate-planning documents that Mr. Anderson knew had been rewritten. [13] On these facts, one might conclude that Mr. Anderson initiated the lawsuit in bad faith  i.e., that he filed a frivolous claim for improper reasons, see Jung, 844 A.2d at 1108, and that in failing to advise the court at the outset of any of the estate-planning documents, Mr. Anderson worked a fraud on the court. See Fischer, 816 A.2d at 13. Likewise, one easily could argue that sanctioning Mr. Anderson for his decision to file the Petition would not implicate the American Rule's concerns that litigants not be chilled from accessing the courts and that the poor not be discouraged from vindicating their rights. See F.D. Rich Co., 417 U.S. at 129, 94 S.Ct. 2157. Again, however, although we are troubled by Mr. Anderson's decision to file the Petition, we rest our affirmance on his post-filing conduct. As we have explained above, Mr. Rogers' and Mr. Anderson's attempts to undo the 2001 Trust were improper. Mr. Anderson contends that he is a lay person who was merely following his lawyer's advice, and that the sins of his lawyer should not be visited upon him. But the fact that Mr. Anderson is a lay person does not insulate him from sanctions. See, e.g., Breezevale Ltd., 879 A.2d at 967; Fischer, 816 A.2d at 4, 12; Jemison, supra note 7, 720 A.2d at 282-83. Moreover, the record reveals that Mr. Anderson was not a mere bystander to Mr. Rogers' misconduct. Instead, Mr. Anderson was the one who repeatedly met with Ms. Jumper and gave her documents that Mr. Rogers had drafted. Mr. Anderson also suggested to Mr. Rogers that Mr. Rogers attempt to get a statement from Ms. Jumper's doctor attesting to Ms. Jumper's supposed incompetence. Thus, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting Mr. Anderson's excuse that he was merely following the advice of his counsel. See Chambers, supra note 7, 501 U.S. at 41, 111 S.Ct. 2123 (affirming sanctions award where district court rejected a litigant's argument that he had merely followed the advice of counsel, and found instead that litigant was `strategist' behind lawsuit); Jemison, 720 A.2d at 283 (affirming sanctions award against a non-party lay person who was deeply involved in the fraudulent scheme [that warranted sanctions] from the very beginning). Even without reference to Mr. Rogers' conduct, Mr. Anderson's own words and deeds support the trial court's finding that he was acting in bad faith. Giving Mr. Anderson the benefit of the doubt, one can assume for the sake of argument that when he filed the Petition, Mr. Anderson did not know of the contents of any estate-planning documents and that he simply wanted to ensure that his long-time friend Ms. Jumper was in good hands. After Mr. Anderson filed the Petition, however, his concerns should have been alleviated. The court-appointed attorney and examiner for Ms. Jumper both found that Ms. Jumper's nursing home was providing her with good care. Nobody who met with Ms. Jumper reported any trouble with her finances, much less, as Mr. Anderson suggested, that her assets were being wasted. And to the extent that Mr. Anderson needed any reminder, there soon emerged the 1995 and 2001 estate-planning documents, which showed that Ms. Jumper had carefully documented her wishes for her care. Mr. Anderson's reaction to these developments is striking for how much he focused on his own interests, and how little on Ms. Jumper's. For instance, Mr. Anderson did not view the trial court's appointment of Dr. Sack to determine whether Ms. Jumper had the mental capacity to execute the 2001 documents as a sensible measure that would help to determine Ms. Jumper's wishes. Instead, Dr. Sack's involvement troubled Mr. Anderson, not because he thought that Ms. Jumper's well-being was at risk, but because Mr. Anderson did not relish kissing goodbye to the 40% of her estate that Sal originally had for [him] in her earlier undoctored trust. (Mr. Anderson, as will be recalled, thought that he could have used the forty percent share that he thought was coming his way after Ms. Jumper died to finance his entry to a retirement home of his own.) Indeed, even before Dr. Sack returned his report finding that Ms. Jumper was competent to execute the 2001 documents, Mr. Anderson was already contemplating a challenge to the provision in the 2001 Trust giving Col. Verfurth discretion of the funds set aside for Mr. Anderson  Mr. Anderson thought that he would be a simpleton if [he] were to let the 2001 papers go unchallenged. Then, in the days leading up to the hearing, Mr. Anderson wrote that he feared that Dr. Sack was waffling, and that his findings would not be favorable to him. In response to this perceived threat, Mr. Anderson proposed that he and Mr. Rogers submit a competing report that would attest that Ms. Jumper had dementia as early as 1998, which would provide grounds for overturning the 2001 Trust. Mr. Anderson explained: I think we would be missing out on a golden opportunity if we do not take this initiative. . . . . we stand to lose a lot. (Ellipsis in original.) Eventually, Mr. Anderson's fears materialized. On October 24, 2002, after finding that the existing documents adequately provided for Ms. Jumper's care, the trial court vacated the guardianship and conservatorship. Given that Mr. Anderson continued to claim that he was not interested in Ms. Jumper's money, and the fact that he has never argued that the trial court erred by vacating the guardianship, one might have expected at that point that the matter would come to a close. It did not. Instead, his disclaimer of an interest in Ms. Jumper's assets notwithstanding, Mr. Anderson attempted almost immediately to reinstate Ms. Jumper's 1995 Trust. He did so even though restoring the 1995 Trust would have no tangible benefit for Ms. Jumper (though it would reward him handsomely). Mr. Anderson did not invite Col. Verfurth (whom he had accused, without any basis, of embezzling money from Ms. Jumper, and had called, among other things, vermin) or Ms. Kincaid (whom he had compared to a criminal) to the meetings he had with Ms. Jumper. This shows that Mr. Anderson acted in bad faith because after the trial court affirmed the validity of the 2001 documents, it became established as a matter of law that Col. Verfurth and Ms. Kincaid were Ms. Jumper's valid representatives. Mr. Anderson's failure to invite Ms. Sloan to his meetings with Ms. Jumper also weighs against him because Mr. Anderson previously trusted Ms. Sloan enough to suggest that she become Ms. Jumper's guardian; if Mr. Anderson were truly interested in Ms. Jumper's well-being, why not alert Ms. Sloan to what he was doing? Furthermore, as the trial court observed, even after Ms. Jumper signed the new documents that Mr. Anderson gave her, despite Mr. Anderson's concern for the proper administration of [Ms.] Jumper's finances and care, no person authorized by the newly created estate documents acted on behalf of [Ms.] Jumper to pay the bills, provide for necessary care and support, or manage her financial affairs. On these facts, the trial court's decision that Mr. Anderson's conduct was so egregious that fee shifting [was] warranted as a matter of equity, Jung, 844 A.2d at 1107, was not an abuse of discretion. Mr. Anderson concedes that he clearly had animus for Col. Verfurth, but argues that he acted at all times not because of that animus, but out of his concern for Ms. Jumper. As we have said, [t]he truth is that litigation often is brought for a host of reasons, and with varying degrees of animus and vehemence. Jung, 844 A.2d at 1112. So Mr. Anderson may well have been motivated by, among other things, an earnest, albeit unfounded, belief that Col. Verfurth had exerted undue influence over Ms. Jumper. But even if that were true, the trial court was entitled to make the finding that Mr. Anderson's ulterior motives, not any desire to help Ms. Jumper, subsume[d] the litigation, id., and that sanctions, therefore, were appropriate. As we have held in the criminal context (where the standard of proof and the stakes are higher than in this case), where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder's choice between them cannot be clearly erroneous. See Dunn v. United States, 976 A.2d 217, 220 (D.C.2009) (quotation marks omitted). Here, even if there were conflicting evidence regarding Mr. Anderson's motivation, the trial court did not clearly err in making the predicate finding of bad faith vel non,  and it did not abuse its discretion in awarding sanctions. Jung, 844 A.2d at 1108 (quotation marks omitted).