Court Opinion

ID: 9697823
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:32:25.665757+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:34:10.025942
License: Public Domain

REID, Associate Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully disagree with the majority’s conclusion that “a genuine issue of material fact is presented as to whether, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, [Willie Ray, Jr.] should have known or suspected at the relevant times that [attorney Thomas H. Queen’s] conduct was wrongful.” The record in this matter is clearly at odds with the majority’s apparent conclusion that Mr. Ray was not on inquiry notice1 until 1996 when he saw a February 1990 document signed by his mother, because he did not learn until 1996, that his mother was not entitled to the proceeds from a civil action settlement due to laws of intestacy.
I fully agree with the trial judge that when Mr. Ray signed the settlement check in the amount of $225,000 in January 1990, and received only $5,000 in February 1990, “that put him on notice to start wondering and start investigating.” As the trial judge stated:
[Mr. Ray] knew back on February 9, 1990, or at least by February 10, 1990 that 200 and some thousand [dollars] should have come to [him] and should not have been paid out to anybody else. [He] was the one that was the personal representative of the estate prosecuting this wrongful death and survival act. So he should have done something before this statute r[a]n.
First, inescapable for me is the trial judge’s conclusion that Mr. Ray had imputed knowledge when, as personal representative for the civil action that resulted in the settlement, he only received $5,000 out of $225,000. Second, the majority appears to do what I understand was rejected in our decision in Diamond, supra note 1, — that is, carve out a more stringent standard, akin to actual knowledge, for cases involving possible breach of fiduciary duty or fraud.
First, Mr. Ray’s own deposition testimony reveals that he had imputed knowledge, and was on inquiry notice in 1990 regarding the distribution of the proceeds from the civil action settlement. In essence, Mr. Ray argues that his mother and Mr. Queen deceived him as to how the settlement funds from the civil action involving his father’s death would be distributed; Mr. Queen did not explain the intestacy laws to him; and he had no- notice of wrongdoing until he discovered a document in 1996 that his mother had executed in February 1990.
*1147Mr. Ray’s deposition testimony shows that his mother was a long-term diabetic, had suffered from congestive heart failure and had become an invalid. He was advised by doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that “long-term diabetes can do things. You can’t think very clearly.” After Mr. Ray signed the 1989 retainer agreement for the civil action with Mr. Queen, he knew that “correspondence was basically between [his] mother and [Mr.] Queen,” and that his mother “shared very little with [me].” Furthermore, he complained in his deposition that his mother “confided mostly in one person. That was Eric [Mr. Ray’s younger brother]. She felt closer to him.” He stated that at the time of the settlement, “I asked, I asked, and that was all I did was ask [his mother about the settlement] and I didn’t receive .... She told me what she wanted to tell me.” He acknowledged that he signed the settlement check, saw it was for $225,000 and received only $5,000. In addition, he admitted that he knew his mother was getting over fifteen hundred dollars a month from the settlement proceeds, beginning in 1990. As he stated: “I have seen [the payments]. I have [gone] to the mailbox and got them out for her and whatnot.” Mr. Ray was aware that, after his father’s death, his mother and his brother Eric bought a home in Mitchell-ville, Maryland at a cost of about $250,000, without selling the family home in the District of Columbia. Despite all of these warning signs, he did not ask Mr. Queen how the settlement funds should be distributed. He did not pose any questions to his brother Eric. Nor did he write to anyone to inquire about the distribution of the settlement funds. In fact, Mr. Ray stated:
I think what you fail to realize here is that, the family was glad to see [my mother] with another place [the Mitch-ellville house]. Okay? And the issue of— we knew that she had some money, we believed her when she said that she was going to set some money aside. We did not question the amount. It could have [been] $5.00, we don’t know. All we know is what she said. Now when she went and bought the house, instead— This is our mother we are talking about. We are not really concerned. We are glad. So we really didn’t think like that. See, you are talking about my mother. We just wasn’t thinking that way.
Despite these statements, Mr. Ray indicated that he and his siblings (other than Eric) were “disappointed” when they heard the reading of their mother’s will and discovered that his mother had left both the Maryland and the District of Columbia houses, as well as a bank account, to Eric. They thought the assets would be divided among all the children. Furthermore, he claims that he relied on the advice of Mr. Queen. Yet, at no time prior to his mother’s death did he seek to learn the contents of her will, either from his mother or Mr. Queen. During his deposition, he was asked: “Were there any discussions with your mother, Mrs. Ray, in reference to where the other money went to?” He responded: “Nope.” He was also asked: “After you cashed the check for $5,000, did you have any occasion to have any further discussion with Mr. Queen?” He replied: “No, I didn’t.” In addition, the document about which he expressed “shock” was not located in a concealed place. Rather, it was in a small, two-drawer file cabinet that was in the “dining area” of the house. With reasonable diligence, Mr. Ray could have discovered the document at a much earlier point in time than 1996, or sought information as to whether the settlement funds should have been distributed in a different manner.
In 1990, Mr. Ray was an adult, married and had his own family. He was gainfully employed and a person of at least ordinary intelligence. In Diamond, supra note 1, we said:
In every case, the plaintiff has a duty to investigate matters affecting [his] affairs with reasonable diligence under all the circumstances. Once the plaintiff actually knows, or with the exercise of rea*1148sonable diligence would have known, of some injury, its cause-in-fact, and some evidence of wrongdoing, then [he] is bound to file [his] cause of action within the applicable limitations period, measured from the date of [his] acquisition of the actual or imputed knowledge.
680 A.2d at 381. The record shows that Mr. Ray had imputed knowledge of possible wrongdoing in February 1990 when, as personal representative for the civil action in behalf of his father’s estate, he did not receive all of the settlement proceeds. Despite the warning signs of his mother’s evasiveness and unwillingness to discuss the matter, his knowledge that she was receiving monthly payments from the settlement proceeds, and her purchase of a Maryland home with his brother Eric, he failed to engage in reasonable diligence to determine why he did not receive the settlement funds, or whether his mother was entitled to so much of the proceeds. He did not even take the easy step of posing questions to Mr. Queen about how the funds were or should be distributed. Under the circumstances, there were sufficient warning signs to prompt a reasonable person to investigate.
Second, the majority appears to apply a standard stricter than that required in Diamond, supra note 1. There, we emphasized that “a focus on the plaintiffs diligence, rather than on the defendant’s misconduct, is more appropriate given the purpose of statutes of limitation to protect defendants from stale claims — whether they be for fraud or other breaches of duty.” Id. at 378. Indeed, we rejected the invitation “to articulate a standard greater than negligence as part of the discovery rule that applies in actions where the cause of action has been concealed from the plaintiff by some wrongful conduct,” or a standard that “demand[s] less than reasonable care from the plaintiff where the plaintiff has been the victim of fraud.” Id. at 376. In my view, the majority concludes that, (1) despite the fact that Mr. Queen represented none of the children except Mr. Ray in the civil action, (2) even though he did not represent Mr. Ray in the probate proceeding, and (3) although “there is no allegation that Mr. Queen made any false oral or written representation to [Mr. Ray], regarding the proper distribution of an intestate’s assets,” nonetheless, “a genuine issue of material fact is raised as to whether [Mr. Ray] acted with reasonable diligence, and therefore as to the existence of inquiry notice.” This conclusion not only appears to relieve Mr. Ray of any obligation to engage in the reasonable diligence required by Diamond, supra note 1, simply because he stated that he relied on Mr. Queen’s advice and he was in a fiduciary relationship with Mr. Queen as to the civil action, but also makes meaningless the concept of “imputed knowledge.” In short, I believe that the majority has imposed a stricter standard than that required by Diamond, supra note 1, and is, in fact, mandating a standard akin to actual knowledge.
For these reasons, I respectfully dissent.

. In Cevenini v. Archbishop of Washington, 707 A.2d 768, 771 (D.C.1998), we again stated that " 'inquiry notice' is that notice which a plaintiff would have possessed after due investigation.” 707 A.2d at 771 (quoting Diamond v. Davis, 680 A.2d 364, 372 (D.C.1996)). We also said:
In the District of Columbia, a plaintiff can be charged with inquiry notice of his claims even if he is not actually aware of each essential element of his cause of action. This court has repeatedly held that a claim accrues when the plaintiff knows of (1) an injury, (2) its cause, and (3) some evidence of wrongdoing.
Id. (citing Diamond, supra, 680 A.2d at 379-80 (other citations omitted)).