Opinion ID: 1058041
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Equitable Accounting

Text: Pursuant to Code § 8.01-31, [a]n accounting in equity may be had against any fiduciary . . . for receiving more than comes to his just share or proportion. In its third amended counterclaim, Riverside alleged, among other things, that the Trustee failed to timely pay real estate taxes and storm water fees assessed against the Trust property despite the Trust provisions requiring the Trustee to pay current taxes against the property. According to Riverside, the failure to pay such fees resulted in an overstatement of net income payable to the Grantor. In the demurrer to these allegations, the Trustee stated that the third amended counterclaim fail[ed] to set forth grounds sufficient to entitle Riverside to an equitable accounting by the Trustee. The properly pled facts in Riverside's third amended counterclaim, accepted as true, see Glazebrook, 266 Va. at 554, 587 S.E.2d at 591, are sufficient to state a claim that the Trustee, as a fiduciary, received more than comes to [her] just share. Code § 8.01-31. The circuit court, however, sustained the Trustee's demurrer because it concluded that Riverside obtained the relief sought in the equitable accounting when the Trustee complied with the court's order requiring her to provide, pursuant to the Trust provisions, a statement showing the condition of the Trust and the receipts and disbursements. Whatever accounting the Trustee provided pursuant to the circuit court's order was not produced to the circuit court and is not part of the record in this appeal. In determining whether the pleading states a cause of action, the court may also examine any exhibits accompanying the pleading. TC MidAtlantic Dev. v. Commonwealth, 280 Va. 204, 210, 695 S.E.2d 543, 547 (2010); accord Dodge v. Trustees of Randolph-Macon Woman's Coll., 276 Va. 1, 5, 661 S.E.2d 801, 803 (2008). But, in the absence of such exhibits, we, like the circuit court, are confined to the facts as they are alleged in the [pleading]. Fun v. Virginia Military Inst., 245 Va. 249, 252, 427 S.E.2d 181, 183 (1993). Thus, the circuit court erred in considering the Trustee's accounting because it was neither an exhibit accompanying the pleading nor a document produced in response to a motion craving oyer. See Dodge, 276 Va. at 5, 661 S.E.2d at 803 (In ruling on a demurrer, a trial court may consider the facts alleged as amplified by any written documents added to the record as a result of the motion craving oyer.). The Trustee, nevertheless, asserts that Riverside does not have a sufficient interest at stake to warrant an equitable accounting nor has it sustained a harm that would be redressed by such. The circuit court, however, found that Riverside is an entity that may request an equitable accounting pursuant to Code § 8.01-31, and the Trustee does not challenge that finding on appeal. See Rule 5:17(c).