Opinion ID: 3214099
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Testimony of Patricia Forte

Text: Patricia testified that she opened a business named West Fountain Auto Body and Sales, Inc. (West Fountain) in June of 1997. It was her testimony that her boyfriend, Kenneth Salvatore, was the general manager of West Fountain. Patricia acknowledged during her testimony that she signed the Settlement Agreement because her brother, Stephen, told her to sign it. However, she testified that she did not read the document before she signed it. She further stated that, at the time of trial, she understood that she was required, under the Settlement Agreement, to release mortgages “held by [her] or Redbrook given by [her] father.” She stated that, when she realized that she was supposed to release the mortgages, she did not do so because her “father told [her] not to release them” due to the fact that he intended to “give [her] the property anyway.” She did acknowledge in her testimony that she held mortgages from her father, CVR, CCI, and WSI which had not been discharged at the time of the transfer of the properties at issue in this appeal. With respect to a mortgage which her father gave to one Joe Tosoni, Patricia testified that her father was motivated to give the mortgage to Mr. Tosoni so as to obtain the money that he needed to pay some criminal fines. It was her further testimony that she “believe[d]” that she paid Mr. Tosoni $82,000 on her father’s behalf and that Mr. Tosoni was, thus, “paid in full.” She added that the mortgage was assigned to her and had not been released. When Patricia was asked at trial where she obtained the money to pay Mr. Tosoni she stated: “I think that was when I took the mortgage out on my house   .” The mortgage deed given by Mr. Voccola to Mr. -6- Tosoni and the Assignment of Mortgage from Mr. Tosoni to Patricia were both entered as exhibits at the trial. Patricia’s testimony then turned to the day on which her father purportedly signed the waivers. She stated that, on June 4, 2007, Mr. Voccola came to West Fountain, as he did every day, and that on that day he told her he was “going to sign the property over to [her].” She testified that on that day she saw her father read (or have read to him) all three of the waivers and she saw him sign all three waivers. She further stated that she, Raphael Fernandez, Mr. Salvatore, and an individual by the name of James Levitt, who prepared the waivers, were present when the waivers were signed. She specifically identified her father’s signature on each of the waivers at trial. Patricia added that the Exhibit A referenced in the waivers was not attached to them and she had not, at the time of trial, located Exhibit A. It was Patricia’s further testimony that she executed the warranty deeds transferring the properties at issue from CVR, CCI, and WSI to Red Fox in her capacity as President of CVR, CCI, and WSI. According to her testimony, her father told her “on a million occasions” that she was getting all of his property, and she said that she remained close to him until his death, despite the instant actions. She indicated that he had conflicts with his other children. However, she did read a portion of her father’s 2008 will at trial, which provided that she would not inherit since she would be deemed to have predeceased her father unless she transferred back to him the properties conveyed to Red Fox. A videotape of a will signing from January of 2004 was played before the jury at trial. In the video, Mr. Voccola was seen signing his January 2, 2004 will; and, in the course of the videotape, he disparaged each of his children, with the exception of Patricia. The videotape revealed him stating that “Patricia [was] going to be the sole owner of everything.” -7-