Fred Thompson's Widow Ordered to Provide Records

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The widow of the late U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson has been ordered to turn over records showing any asset transfers or changes in beneficiaries in the months preceding his death in late 2015.
In a four-page order issued this week, Davidson Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy ordered Jeri Thompson to provide the records to the late actor's two oldest children, Fred D Thompson and Daniel Thompson by Feb. 22.
Thompson's two older sons have charged that Jeri Thompson was attempting to change her husband's estate plan at a time when he was no longer legally competent to approve any changes.
The will actually filed in Thompson's estate was dated over a decade before his Nov. 1, 2015 death and did not mention the two children born after his marriage to Jeri.
Kennedy's order followed a Jan. 23 hearing on the issue.
The order requires Jeri Thompson to provide copies of deeds prepared by ta Nashville law firm in October of 2015 regarding property in Florida.
The order also applies to any change in beneficiaries on life insurance policies between July 2015 and October 2015.
The same information must be turned over regarding Thompson's pension from the Screen Actor Guild.
Under the order information on all accounts and assets must also be provided, though the order specifically excludes account numbers.
The dispute arose after a Nashville law firm, Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis submitted a claim against Thompson's estate for $14,450. The filing included detailed information on efforts to the amend the retired actor's estate plans.
The two sons, children of Thompson's first marriage, then filed their claims.
Jeri Thompson responded by stating that the only change was in the contingent beneficiary on a life insurance policy. And, she said, that change proved inconsequential because she was the primary beneficiary and had already collected on the policy.
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Judge Rules Clerk Can Be Liable In Conservatorship Case

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A senior Davidson Circuit Court Judge has ruled that the county probate court clerk can be held liable for losses suffered by a conserved person whose assets were looted by a now disbarred attorney who had been appointed to oversee the victim's finances.
In a four-page decision issued this week Senior Judge Ben H. Cantrell denied motions for dismissal filed by Metro government and concluded that the case against the probate clerk can go forward.
Cantrell also concluded, however, that the government agency's liability will be limited to the amounts stolen by the now jailed conservator, John E. Clemmons, after March of 2012.
The case is one of two currently pending in the court system in the aftermath of Clemmons' guilty pleas on charges he stole over $1 million from four persons whose assets he had been assigned to protect. The 69-year-old disbarred Nashville, Tenn. attorney is serving an 18 year prison sentence.
Cantrell recently ruled in the other pending Clemmons case that Metro was not liable for assets stolen from the late William C. Link because the suit was filed after the statute of limitations had expired. His decision in that case is being appealed. Clemmons had served as both a conservator and estate administrator for Link and his disabled daughter.
In the case decided this week, Clemmons' successor conservator, Paul Gontarek, had argued that if the probate clerk had performed its duties, Clemmons would have been required to file annual reports with the court that would have exposed the thefts.
Metro lawyers, however, argued that a judgment already had been issued against Clemmons for the full amount of Griggs' losses and, therefore, no more could be recovered. According to court records, Clemmons admitted to stealing $157,050 from Griggs' assets.
Cantrell, however, disagreed.
"The undisputed facts do not support the defendant's (Metro's) argument," Cantrell wrote, adding that there had been no final judgment in the case against Clemmons and it was "not clear just what the court had awarded."
Virtually all known assets of the jailed lawyer have been depleted, records show.
As for the date from which Metro could be held liable, Cantrell set that date at March of 2012 rather than the March 2013 date argued by Metro lawyers. The 2012 date was when the first missed annual report was due.
"Any losses that occurred prior to that date cannot be attributed to the fault of the clerk's office," Cantrell wrote. "Metro is entitled to limit its exposure to any losses arising after March 2012."
Cantrell also concluded that claims against Metro in the case would not be limited to a single capped claim under the state law limiting governmental liability, the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act.
The plaintiff, he wrote, will be entitled to "recover as many caps under the TGTLA as the proof shows he is entitled."
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Metro Ruling in Estate Case Being Appealed

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A notice of appeal has been filed in a suit seeking to force Metro government to repay the estate of a man whose assets were depleted by more than $500,000 through the admitted theft of a court appointed attorney.
The notice of appeal by Paul Gontarek was filed Friday in Davidson Circuit Court.
The appeal will challenge a ruling by Senior Judge Ben H. Cantrell who threw out the suit concluding that it was filed after the one year statute of limitations had expired. The suit sought to recover $515,907.19 from Metro government.
The suit is one of two stemming from actions by now jailed attorney John E. Clemmons, the 69-year-old disbarred Nashville lawyer now serving an 18 year prison sentence after admitting stealing over $1 million from estates and conservatorships he had been assigned to oversee.
In the Sept. 19 decision Cantrell concluded that the suit was filed well beyond the statute of limitations.
Gontarek and Paul Mason had argued that the one-year limit only applied to wrongful death suits filed against government agencies.
Cantrell, however, citing a state Supreme Court ruling, concluded that the limit was much broader and applied to the claims in the suit filed in behalf of the estate of William Link.
The suit had charged that the thefts from the estate would never have occurred if the Davidson Probate Court staff had done their jobs and enforced a requirement that Clemmons file an annual report detailing all transactions involving the estate assets. Clemmons was appointed the estate administrator in 2003 and filed a single accounting in 2004.
A second parallel case is still pending before Cantrell and it involves the conservatorship of Donald Griggs, which Clemmons also was appointed to oversee.
Clemmons admitted to stealing $157,050 from Griggs' assets.
Gontarek also sought to recover some of the stolen money from the insurance company that provided malpractice coverage for Clemmons. That claim, however, was short circuited by a recent federal court ruling.
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Judge Bars Claims on Clemmons' Insurance

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Victims of disbarred and jailed Nashville lawyer John E. Clemmons cannot recoup any of their $1 million in losses from the malpractice insurance policy maintained by the once prominent local attorney.
In an 11-page decision U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr ruled that the Hanover Insurance Co. has no obligation to defend or indemnify Clemmons who is currently serving an 18 year prison sentence for stealing well over $1 million from estates and conservatorships he was assigned to protect.
Describing Clemmons as "an estate lawyer who stole from his clients," Crenshaw rejected the arguments by Paul Gontarek, who was named to replace Clemmons in two cases after the former lawyer's misdeeds became public. 
Gontarek  was seeking to collect an estimated $300,000 for the estate of William Link and the conservatorship of Donald Griggs.
As Crenshaw noted, Clemmons was first named as the conservator of Link, then took on his estate as administrator and became the trustee of a special needs trust established for Link's disabled daughter.
The decision comes shortly after another court ruling set back attempts to recoup some of the lost money from Metro government. Last week Senior Judge Ben Cantrell ruled in a Davidson Circuit Court case that Metro was not liable even though probate court officials let Clemmons go for years without filing required annual accountings.
Gontarek had argued in that case that had the clerk's office done its job, the thefts would never have occurred or at least been uncovered much sooner.
In the federal case Crenshaw cited provisions in Clemmons' malpractice policy setting an exclusion for "committing any intentional , dishonest, criminal, malicious or fraudulent act or omission."
In addition he concluded that "without question Clemmons had a subjective and objective knowledge Hanover Insurance would not provide him coverage for stealing from his clients' estates."
The judge also rejected Gontarek's effort to collect on the Hanover policy claiming Clemmons was negligent by failing to obtain the required level on a bond filed in the cases.
Crenshaw found that claim was filed too late and did not meet the deadlines set in the policy.
"Clemmons knew the nature of the injury he had inflicted on his clients," Crenshaw concluded.
"The substantial cause of the loss to the estate was Clemmons's theft of funds."
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Judge Bars Estate Recovery From Metro

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A senior Nashville judge has dismissed a $515,907 claim against Metro Nashville government filed in behalf of the estate of a man whose assets were depleted by $771,009 thanks to the lawyer appointed to oversee his case.
In a three-page ruling Judge Ben H. Cantrell concluded that the claim filed in behalf of the estate of William Link had to be disallowed because it was not filed until long after a one-year statute of limitations had expired.
Cantrell concluded that the one-year limit did not only apply to wrongful death cases as the lawyers for Link had argued.
"The plaintiff's argument is appealing, especially in this case, but the court thinks the Supreme Court did not limit their decision to wrongful death cases," Cantrell wrote in the three page decision.
The Link estate was one of four cases in which now jailed and disbarred attorney John E. Clemmons stole over $1 million from estates and conservatorships he was overseeing. Clemmons, 69, is now serving an 18-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in all four cases.
Lawyers for Link had argued that if Davidson Probate Court officials had done their job  and required Clemmons to file mandatory annual accountings, the thefts would have been prevented. According to court filings Clemmons, who was appointed administrator in March of 2003, filed one annual accounting on Sept. 15, 2004.
Cantrell did not dispute that conclusion and also pointed out that court officials approved a series of fee requests submitted by Clemmons up through 2012 "despite the lack of accounting."
Paul Gontarek, who replaced Clemmons as the administrator, said Monday they were reviewing the ruling to determine what if any further action to take.
Cantrell has yet to rule in a similar case in which Gontarek is seeking to recover $157,050 from Metro for Donald Griggs who had his conservatorship overseen by Clemmons.  Arguments in the Griggs case paralleled those on the Link case.
In his ruling Cantrell concluded "that the claims against Metro in this case are barred by the one-year statute of limitations."
Gontarek, meanwhile, is pursuing a claim against Clemmons' malpractice insurance carrier, but lawyers for the company have asked a federal judge to bar any claim because the policy does not apply to criminal conduct.
Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy, who appointed Gontarek to replace Clemmons, recently approved fees and expenses for Gontarek and Patrick Mason totaling a little over $35,000. Mason was hired to pursue the claims against Metro.

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Thompson Estate Showdown On Hold?

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The widow of former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson has asked a probate judge to cancel a scheduled hearing on her motion to dismiss the claims of two of the former presidential candidate's sons.
In a brief motion filed this week Jeri Thompson asked that her motion for summary judgment be removed from the docket for Sept. 29.
The motion is the latest development in the court battle over the one time presidential candidate's estate.
Thompson's two eldest sons have charged that Jeri Thompson made a last minute attempt to change her husband's estate plans at a time when he was not legally competent to authorize any changes.
Emails to Jeri Thompson's lawyer William T. Ramsey did not bring a response today.
Fred D. Thompson 2nd and Daniel L. Thompson, sons of Thompson and his first wife, leveled the charges after discovering a Nashville law firm had been working with Jeri Thompson in the weeks before Fred Thompson's death late last year on estate matters.
Details of the efforts were included in a billing statement filed by the Nashville firm of Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis in a $14,550 claim against the estate.
Jeri Thompson has disputed the law firm's claim, but a hearing on that matter also has been put on hold.
In another recent development the Waller firm has asked that the court block a subpoena of the firm's Thompson estate records.
Jeri Thompson,  the late television actor's second wife, has stated that the only change actually made in her husband's estate was inconsequential and involved adding a second secondary beneficiary to a life insurance policy.
According to a filing by her new attorneys, the life insurance policy named her as the primary beneficiary and it has already been cashed in.
Thompson, who died on Nov. 1, 2015, had two children with Jeri, but neither is mentioned in the decade-old will filed in his estate.
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Fees Approved in Former Clemmons Case

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Fees and expenses of a little more than $35,000 have been approved by Davidson Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy but efforts by lawyer to recoup money for victims of a now jailed and disbarred lawyer seem to have slowed to a crawl.
The fees for two lawyers assigned to recoup money stolen by John E. Clemmons were approved late last week. A little over $14,000 will go to Patrick Mason, a Memphis area attorney, and the balance will go to Nashville lawyer Paul Gontarek.
The fees were awarded in one of four cases Gontarek was assigned to take over after the 69-year-old Clemmons pled guilty to stealing more than $1 million from clients in Davidson and Rutherford counties. Clemmons is serving an 18-year prison sentence.
Following his appointment Gontarek filed suit against Metro government charging that had court officials done their job in monitoring Clemmons activities, the thefts would have been detected at a much earlier stage.
A hearing was held some four months ago before Senior Judge Ben Cantrell, but there has been no decision thus far on Metro's efforts to have the suit dismissed.
The fees approved by Kennedy come from the estate of William C. Link. Clemmons admitted to stealing $771,009 from Link's estate.
Metro is also being sued for $157,050 in a second case. Clemmons admitted to stealing that amount from Donald Griggs while the then attorney was overseeing his conservatorship.
The latest fee approval boosts the fees incurred in the Link and Griggs cases since Clemmons was removed to more than $100,000.
Gontarek reported to the probate court recently that he did recoup $375,000 from a bond Clemmons was required to maintain.
In addition to the suits against Metro, Gontarek has is pursuing a claim in federal court against Clemmons' malpractice insurance carrier.
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