Opinion ID: 1481116
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: 2001: Things turn sour.

Text: About six weeks after the 2001 Trust fundamentally altered Mr. Anderson's stake in Ms. Jumper's estate, Mr. Anderson began documenting his concern for Ms. Jumper's mental state. [4] For instance, in a March 3, 2001 Memo for the Record, Mr. Anderson wrote of how deeply Sal [had] sunk into a mild dementia. Mr. Anderson wrote that when he visited her, Sally was not completely dressed but was eating her breakfast. In addition, Mr. Anderson wrote that Sally had asked him, supposedly in a tone that is used when one is not sure who they are talking to . . . `Where do you live?' Finally, Mr. Anderson had brought soft toilet paper and paper towels for Ms. Jumper's use, but reported that Ms. Jumper told him that she [was] not used to having people deliver things to her, and that she [was] not used to [Mr. Anderson] delivering such things!! Mr. Anderson found this statement suspicious because he in fact had been delivering stuff [though not necessarily toilet paper] to her for many, many years (actually, decades). In sum, Mr. Anderson's March 3, 2001 visit to Ms. Jumper caused him to worr[y] . . . greatly about how easy it would be for any unscrupulous persons to take advantage of [Ms. Jumper], such as having her re-do her legal papers. If I ever discover that such is in fact the case, Mr. Anderson concluded his Memo for the Record, I will take appropriate action. A letter that Mr. Anderson wrote on February 26, 2001, to a doctor of Ms. Jumper's sounded a similar note. Mr. Anderson wrote that Ms. Jumper apparently had asked him about her car, even though, according to Mr. Anderson, Ms. Jumper had not had a car in at least fifty years. Mr. Anderson was relieved that [a]t least this time Sally did not ask me to set out a bowl of water for her (long dead) Seeing Eye dog, Trini. Mr. Anderson's observations led him to believe that Sally [was] progressively descending into senile dementia. In light of Ms. Jumper's purported decline, Mr. Anderson found it questionable whether she [was] capable of making any kind of decision that required sustained rational thought. Mr. Anderson also wrote to Mr. Cohen, the successor trustee under the 1995 Trust. Whereas Mr. Anderson's Memo for the Record and letter to Ms. Jumper's doctor made oblique references to Ms. Jumper's ability to make important decisions, the letter to Mr. Cohen, an attorney, tied Mr. Anderson's concern over Ms. Jumper's mental state to her estate-planning documents. In that letter, Mr. Anderson wrote: Sally Jumper's personal physician . . . recently stated that Sally is `not mentally competent' (sic) to make decisions about her medical care and needs. (sic in original). In view of that alleged statement by Ms. Jumper's physician and Mr. Anderson's personal experiences with Ms. Jumper, Mr. Anderson question[ed] [Ms. Jumper's] mental competence to have had all her documents re-written. Furthermore, Mr. Anderson wrote that he no longer [had] any trust in or confidence in the Verfurths. I find it interesting, Mr. Anderson wrote to Mr. Cohen, that you too were not aware she had re-done her papers. . . . . especially since you are the back-up trustee . . . . or were. I have been her friend for 30 years. (Ellipses in original.) A few weeks after Mr. Anderson's letter to him, Mr. Cohen wrote to Col. Verfurth that he had learned that Ms. Jumper had executed revised documents in which [he was] no longer her back-up Trustee. Several months later, in August 2001, Mitchell J. ShapiroMr. Anderson's lawyer at the timewrote to Col. Verfurth to express Mr. Anderson's concern about Ms. Jumper's finances. Noting that Mr. Anderson held a power of attorney for Ms. Jumper, [5] Mr. Shapiro wrote that Mr. Anderson was concerned about possible dissipation of Ms. Jumper's assets and asked that Col. Verfurth provide an accounting of Ms. Jumper's assets. Mr. Anderson eventually conceded that he did not have a legal basis to seek an accounting indeed, he later sought to become Ms. Jumper's guardian precisely to have that powerand that he had no evidence that Col. Verfurth had mismanaged Ms. Jumper's funds or engaged in any other impropriety. In an attempt to explain why an accounting was necessary nonetheless, Mr. Anderson cited the fiasco at the accounting firm Arthur Andersen. See generally, e.g., Kurt Eichenwald, Enron's Many Strands: The Accountants; Miscues, Missteps and the Fall of Andersen, N.Y. TIMES, May 8, 2002, at C1. According to Mr. Anderson, Col. Verfurth never replied to the request for an accounting of Ms. Jumper's assets. October 2001 marked another important moment in the saga. One day that month, Mr. Anderson allegedly learned that Ms. Jumper's legs and buttocks were covered with reddish-black bruises and that she had become incontinent during the night. Mr. Anderson blamed the incident on Col. Verfurth and his family because, as Mr. Anderson explained, they were the ones who were disbursing, releasing money from Sally's funds, and in my opinion they should have been more diligent in seeing that her needs were taken care of. Mr. Anderson acknowledged that by that time [he] was not on the best of terms with Col. Verfurth. That was an understatement. On October 18, 2001, Mr. Anderson wrote a colorful letter to Col. Verfurth, viciously attacking him for his treatment of Ms. Jumper. After recounting the bruises and the incontinence incident, Mr. Anderson accused Col. Verfurth of embezzling money from Ms. Jumper. I understand that the other day, Mr. Anderson wrote, your buddy Linda Thompson [the person in charge of paying Ms. Jumper's bills and handling her monthly expenses] presented Sal with a check made out to you. Mr. Anderson continued: I hope it [ i.e., the check] will help finance your next vacation, Mr. Verfurth. After pointing out that he did not charge Sally Jumper ANYTHING for the countless things that he brought her, Mr. Anderson concluded: I am fully aware that you really do not give a s..t about any of these things, but while you are burning in Hell, I would like you to reflect on why you are there. (editing in original).