Opinion ID: 1911789
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: communications while lawsuit was pending

Text: On October 25, 2002, Don informed Harley that he was ready to close on short notice once, Harley's appraiser had reached a valuation. On November 20, Don offered to purchase Harley's interest based on Don's appraisal. He stated that if Harley did not respond by the end of November, Don would consider his failure an intent to breach the agreement. Two days later, Harley responded that Don's efforts to now perform the Agreement, months after such performance was due, are very telling, and that rather than try to resurrect a dead Agreement, they should both devote our time to getting the pending lawsuit decided. In February 2003, Harley assigned his 25-percent interest to the Harley G. Shoemaker Revocable Trust, and Marion assigned her 25-percent interest to the Marion P. Shoemaker Revocable Trust. Marion died in July 2003. As noted, their son David is the trustee of Marion's trust; Harley is the trustee of his trust. The parties stipulated that during the pendency of the lawsuit, Harley and Marion or their trusts continued to receive earnings from the partnership. (The parties use of the term earnings in their stipulation apparently refers to the partnership's profit distributions.) Don claimed that the court should apply, these payments toward the buyout price for Harley's interest. From December 20, 2001, to December 31, 2005, the partnership paid to Harley and Marion or their trusts $570,180, representing 50 percent of truckstop earnings, and $14,540, representing 50 percent of motel earnings.