Opinion ID: 1918200
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Q Street Property

Text: On June 29, 1995, Mr. Drake instructed Mr. Thompson to purchase a piece of property located at 1204 Q Street, N.W. (the Q Street property), at a foreclosure sale. Thompson was the Chief Executive Officer of various businesses previously owned by Mr. Drake and designated as assets of the Drake Trusts, including Designmark Building Services, Inc., Designmark Food Services, Inc., and Designmark Development Corporation (collectively Designmark). Mr. Thompson purchased the Q Street property on behalf of a fictitious company named Taurus Investments Company (Taurus) [2] and paid $155,000 for it with a cashier's check issued by Crestar Bank on behalf of Taurus; however, the purchase money for the cashier's check was provided by Designmark. On July 28, the day before Mr. Drake's death, the relevant parties executed a Substitute Trustee's Deed which stated that Taurus had purchased the Q Street property. The Substitute Trustee's Deed was recorded at the office of the District of Columbia Recorder of Deeds on August 24, 1995. On August 18, about three weeks after Mr. Drake's death, Mr. Thompson was advised by Daniel Hodin, Designmark's attorney, a member of the law firm of Ginsburg, Feldman, and Bress, that the Substitute Trustee's Deed was invalid. Mr. Hodin informed Mr. McNair that without a change in title from Taurus to Designmark, the Q Street property could not be sold to satisfy Mr. Drake's outstanding IRS liabilities. He recommended to Mr. McNair that certain steps be taken to correct the deed. Richard Wise, counsel to the Substitute Trustee, required an affidavit from Mr. Thompson to effectuate the change in the deed. Hodin and Wise discussed the affidavit, and McNair spoke with Thompson about what it should say and later reviewed a draft of the affidavit. Mr. Thompson executed the affidavit (Thompson Affidavit) on November 3. A Confirmatory Substitute Trustee's Deed was then executed on November 20, 1995, to change the title of the Q Street property from Taurus to Designmark. This deed stated that (1) the original Substitute Trustee's Deed mistakenly named Taurus as the purchaser of the property, (2) Taurus was not incorporated or registered under the laws of any state or the District of Columbia, and (3) Designmark provided the purchase money for the Q Street property. The Confirmatory Substitute Trustee's Deed was recorded at the office of the Recorder of Deeds on January 16, 1996. Designmark later sold the Q Street Property for approximately $126,000, but the IRS attached the proceeds of the sale to satisfy some of Mr. Drake's business-related tax liabilities. On August 21, 1995, three months before the Confirmatory Substitute Trustee's Deed was executed, Ms. Royster and Mr. McNair, in their capacities as co-trustees and co-personal representatives, wrote to Smith Barney, an asset management firm handling the Q Street property account. In their letter Royster and McNair agreed to indemnify Smith Barney against any and all claims or liabilities resulting from the retitling of its Taurus Investments account to a Drake Trusts account. On August 28, a week later, approximately $202,000 was transferred from Taurus to the Drake Trusts account.