Lawyers Seek $36,611.53 In Clemmons' Cleanup Case

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Attorneys assigned to cleanup the financial wreckage left behind by jailed and disbarred Nashville attorney John E. Clemmons are seeking fees and expenses totaling another $36,661.53, according to recent filings in Davidson Probate Court.
The fee requests comes in just one of the four cases from which Clemmons, 68, now serving an 18-year prison sentence, has admitted stealing more than $1 million. If approved the latest request would boost total legal fees since Clemmons removal to more than $105,000.
In a lengthy and detailed filing Paul Gontarek is seeking payment of $21,816.50 for work done by himself and colleagues at the Nashville firm of Howard Mobley Hayes and Gontarek. An additional $14,795.03 is being requested by Patrick Mason, a Memphis area attorney also working on the case. Previously they were paid a total of $69,066.46.
Clemmons, who pleaded guilty to stealing $771,009 from the estate of William C. Link, also entered guilty pleas in the other cases, including one in Rutherford County.
When Clemmons' thefts were uncovered Davidson Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy removed him from the estate and conservatorship cases and named Gontarek to replace him.
In the recent filings Gontarek reported that thus far $375,000 has been recovered for the Link estate, that amount coming from a bond on Clemmons required by the court.
"Upon taking over as the successor administrator, the undersigned quickly learned that neither the estate nor the special needs trust (for Link's daughter) had any funds," Gontarek wrote.
"All actions taken  by the administrator were reasonable and necessary given the circumstances of the case," Gontarek continued, adding that he was forced to pore through thousands of pages of Clemmons' fraudulent filings going back eight years.
Gontarek wrote that he had to "decode" the false and fabricated accountings submitted by Clemmons.
Beyond the $375,000, Gontarek reported that other efforts to recoup money for the Link estate and his daughter await rulings in state and federal courts.
A suit filed against the Davidson Probate Clerk's office awaits a ruling from Senior Judge Ben Cantrell. That suit seeks $515,907 from Metro government based on the claim that court officials failed to monitor Clemmons activities, thus allowing him steal from his clients.
A parallel suit for $157,050 has been filed against Metro in another one of Clemmons' former cases, the conservatorship of Donald Griggs.
In a second suit on the Links estate pending in federal court, the insurance firm that provided Clemmons malpractice coverage has charged that it should not be liable because Clemmons actions were illegal and not covered by his policy.
The bill submitted by Gontarek's firm seeks payments for hourly rates ranging up to $275 an hour. Mason billed at a $135 an hour.
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Waller Law Firm Fights Thompsons' Subpoena

By Walter F. Roche  Jr.

A prominent Nashville, Tenn. law firm is fighting a subpoena seeking all of its estate records for the late U.S. Senator and television actor Fred Thompson.
In a filing late last week in Davidson Probate Court Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis charged that the subpoena issued in behalf of Thompsons two oldest sons was not properly served and seeks records protected by a lawyer client privilege.
The filing is just the latest legal skirmish over Thompson's estate.
The two sons, Fred D. Thompson 2nd and Daniel L. Thompson, have charged that Thompson's wife, Jeri K. Thompson, may have made last minute changes even after Thompson himself, was no longer legally competent to authorize them.
The Waller firm was deeply involved in those efforts and has a $14,550 discounted claim for legal work done just before Fred Thompson's Nov. 1, 2015 death. Jeri Thompson, the executor of her late husband's estate has disputed the bill.
In the filing on Friday Waller attorney Ames Davis charged that the four-page subpoena seeks documents that already have been turned over to the firm now representing the estate.
In addition the documents are either protected by attorney-client privilege or are protected as attorney work product.
"Waller would be subjected to undue burden and expense if it were required to locate all documents potentially responsive to the subpoena," the Waller filing states.
Jeri Thompson already has denied making any last minute changes to the estate except for adding a secondary beneficiary to two life insurance policies. Those changes, however, proved to be a nullity since Jeri Thompson, the primary beneficiary already cashed in the policies in question, according to court filings.
Thompson, a one time presidential candidate, and Jeri Thompson had two children, Samuel and Hayden, but neither was mentioned in the more than decade old will filed in the estate.
 The four page subpoena served on the Waller firm seeks all of Thompson's estate planning documents, records relating to a Florida property owned by the senator, any benefits Thompson was entitled to from the Screen Actors Guild and any interest he had in American Advisors Group.
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Hearing Set on Dismissal Motion in Thompson Estate

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A Sept. 29 hearing date has been set to consider a motion by the widow of television star and politician Fred Thompson to dismiss claims of death bed estate changes filed by his two oldest sons by a previous marriage.
Jeri Thompson has denied charges by  Fred Thompson 2nd and Daniel Thompson that she made last minute changes to his estate planning documents to their detriment at a time when the one time presidential candidate was not competent to authorize any changes.
The two sons, meanwhile, have served a subpoena on the law firm that had been conferring with Jeri Thompson and the late U.S. senator in the days before his Nov. 1 death. The subpoena served on the Waller Landsen Dortch and Davis law firm seeks copies of all of Thompson's estate planning documents. It also seeks copies of a deed to a Florida property owned by Thompson.
The Florida property was specifically mentioned in billing records the Waller law firm submitted to justify a $14,550 claim against the estate. Jeri Thompson has disputed that claim.
Jeri Thompson has labeled the sons' charges "gross misrepresentations" and stated that the only changes made were to add a contingent beneficiary to two life insurance policies. The changes had no effect on the $50,000 apiece allotted to Thompson's two oldest sons under the decade old will that was finally filed, according to her court filing.
Her response also noted that the designation of contingency beneficiaries became moot when she, the primary beneficiary, redeemed the two policies.
Jeri Thompson, utilizing a power of attorney, added her son with Thompson, Samuel, as a contingent beneficiary on Oct. 26. Prior to that their daughter Hayden was the 100 percent contingent beneficiary, according to her motion for summary judgment.

Group Homes Financed by Partner's Board

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

An affiliate of Tennessee' s largest provider of group homes for disabled residents has obtained tax free bond financing through a public board on which one of its business partners sits.
A $20 million bond issue approved by the Health and Educational Facilities Board of Nashville and Davidson County is being used  to construct eight group homes for current residents of the Greene Valley Development Center, a state facility under a federal court closure order.
The same bond issue, approved by the Nashville board on May 30, will be used to refinance the debt on facilities providing care to 256 disabled patients.
Sitting on the Nashville board is Richard "Dick" Brown, an attorney and former employee of the state agency providing care to the physically and intellectually disabled.
The bond issue was issued in the name of the WCO AL DP, the non-profit that owns group homes run by the Open Arms Care Corp, another non-profit. But the contract to operate the homes, including the eight new ones, is a for-profit firm called Integra Resources.
Integra is owned, in turn, by the SMI Group and Flatrock Investors. Flatrock is owned by Brown and Joseph Torrence.
Minutes of the May 30 meeting of the Nashville board show that Brown was present for the meeting and was involved in a discussion about the bond issue but recused himself from the vote.
"Mr. Brown then provided information on the services provided at the proposed facilities and an historical overview of the closing of the State of Tennessee's institutional facilities," the minutes state.
"Mr Brown described his consulting and management role with WCO and his involvement in the proposed financing," the minutes continue.
Brown said in an email response to questions that he participated in the discussion at the board's request "given my experience with facilities for intellectually disabled individuals over a career of thirty plus years and my current position as an executive with Integra Resources, which is now manager of Open Arms Care."
Though Brown said he disclosed his own personal financial interest to his fellow Nashville board members, he did not do so during meetings with other county boards whose approval was needed because Open Arms facilities are located in those jurisdictions.
"Because none of these bodies had a financial interest in the bond financing and I am not a member of any of them, I did not make a disclosure of financial conflict of interest at those meetings," Brown said, adding that he accompanied the bond counsel at those meetings in Hamilton, Shelby, Greene and Williamson Counties.
He said he only actually spoke at one of those meetings to answer a question.
Minutes of the Hamilton County Commissioners March 30 meeting note Brown's presence, along with an attorney for Open Arms.
The commission voted its approval of the bond issue at a subsequent meeting.
In Greene County records show the  commissioners were told the refinancing was being requested "to obtain lower interest costs."
Brown said in response to questions that he consulted with legal counsel to ensure that his actions complied with state ethics statutes.
"I did have legal advice from the board attorney, bond attorney and Integra Resources counsel on the applicable conflict of interest requirement and followed it as described," he wrote.
 Technically, Brown added, the only direct beneficiary of the bond issue was WCO AL DP, the nonprofit that owns the facilities, but he acknowledged that Open Arms and Integra "will benefit from the use of the facilities to provide the services requested and required by the State of Tennessee."
He said the Nashville board was the logical choice to seek funding since the same board provided funding to Open Arms Care in 1998.
Records show the bonds issued by the Nashville board were purchased in a private sale by Facilities Funding Group. Facilities Funding, state records show, is located in Brown's Nashville office. He is listed on state records as resident agent for the corporation.
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Thompson's Widow Calls Charges "Gross Misrepresentation"

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The widow of the late U.S. Senator Fred Thompson is asking a judge to throw out a suit filed by the one time presidential candidate's two oldest sons who had charged her with making last minute changes in his estate documents.
In a motion filed Friday in Davidson Probate Court in Nashville, Tenn. lawyers for Jeri Thompson, who is also the executor of her husband's estate, disclosed that she did change the contingent beneficiaries on two life insurance policies but that action had no effect on the interests of Thompson's sons, Fred D. Thompson 2nd and Daniel Thompson.
Denying charges of a last minute conspiracy to change the late actor's estate, Ms. Thompson said the allegations of the two older sons were "gross misrepresentations of the facts based on speculation and incomplete information."
 She said she made the beneficiary changes on Oct. 26, 2015 under a more than decade old power of attorney.
"Plaintiffs cannot show that they suffered any harm or loss that was caused by any actions of the executor," the motion for summary judgment states.
The filing is the latest development in legal battles that surfaced following the death of the late actor.
Jeri Thompson, according to the court filing, added their son Samuel as a 50 percent contingent beneficiary on two life insurance policies. Prior to the change the 100 percent contingent beneficiary was Hayden Thompson, a daughter of Jeri Thompson and the deceased Law and Order prosecutor.
Jeri Thompson was and remained the sole primary beneficiary under both policies.
"The change never had any effect whatsoever because the executor, the primary beneficiary, received the proceeds of the policies, as was Senator Thompson's intent," a 14-page court memorandum states.
According to the suit the changes reduced Hayden's interest as a contingent beneficiary to 50 percent.
Thompson's two older sons of a previous marriage had charged that Jeri Thompson had made changes to the estate using undue influence and at a time when he was not competent to make any changes. They asked the court to nullify any such last minute changes.
The charges were based on billing records from the law firm of Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis, which has filed a claim against the estate for $14,550 for estate work done just before the senator's death.
According to Jeri Thompson's motion, the late senator was considering changing his estate plans, but Waller attorney Charles Trost concluded, following an Oct. 19, 2015 meeting, that he was not competent to make any such changes.
"Senator Thompson's condition worsened before the documents could be completed and before Sen. Thompson could review and sign them," the filing states.
Court records show the will filed in Thompson's estate was prepared in 2003 and did not include either Hayden or Samuel. The two older sons were beneficiaries.
The Waller billing records show there was a last minute flurry of activity regarding Thompson's will and estate plans. Jeri Thompson has filed objections to the billing but a hearing on the bill dispute has been postponed indefinitely, records show.
Jeri Thompson's filing also includes a request for the court to impose sanctions against the older sons' lawyers at Bass Berry and Sims because they sued her with "absolutely no evidence."
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Eldest Sons Sue in Thompson Estate

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The two eldest sons of the late actor and presidential candidate Fred Thompson are suing his wife charging she may have switched beneficiaries on his life insurance policies and retirement plans just before his death.
The claims by Fred D and Daniel L. Thompson were filed in the late senator's estate case in Davidson Probate Court in Nashville, Tenn. Tuesday.
Citing a dispute over a $14,550 legal bill the two are demanding that Jeri Thompson turn over her husband's estate planning documents so they can determine whether last minute changes were made.
The legal bill from a prominent Nashville law firm, Waller Lansden, shows that there was a last minute attempt to draw up a new will in the days before Thompson's death, but that effort was ultimately unsuccessful.
Instead the will filed in the estate is over a decade old and omits the two children born after Thompson's marriage to Jeri, who is the executor of the estate. She issued a statement denying the charges.
The dispute over the legal bills, first reported in this blog, was put on hold over a month ago by agreement of both parties.
The two eldest sons, who are included in the official will, however are charging that changes may have been made in the beneficiaries of life insurance policies and retirement plans even in property holdings.
They charge that Jeri Thompson has refused to provide them with copies of the estate planning documents.
The motion asks the court to declare any such changes invalid, contending that Jeri Thompson may have exerted undue influence over her husband and that the late senator was not competent to authorize any such changes.
Thompson died in November of last year. The one time presidential candidate and Law and Order prosecutor was once estimated to be worth $8 million.