Woman Conserved Despite Protest

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A 53-year-old woman who was placed in a temporary conservatorship at the request of attorneys for the Vanderbilt University Medical Center is fighting to keep the conservatorship from being made permanent even as she is being shuttled by ambulance from one facility to another.
Reba Sherrill, a paraplegic as a result of being hit by a car, said in an interview that she was taken  from Vanderbilt to a nursing home, then back to Vanderbilt over her protests and today to a nursing facility in Robertson County.
"It's the most atrocious thing I have ever experienced," she said.
Vanderbilt Medical Center did not respond to requests for comment as did the three attorneys representing the facility.
In late August, Vanderbilt's attorneys, petitioned Davidson Probate Court to place Sherrill in a temporary healthcare conservatorship so she could be transferred to another facility.
The petition stated that Sherrill, who was admitted to Vanderbilt on Aug. 8, "no longer requires acute hospital care but instead requires admission to an appropriate facility."
She had been admitted to Vanderbilt for treatment of physical ailments. 
One day after arriving at the nursing home, Richland Place in Nashville, a facility she chose, an ambulance driver appeared telling her he was going to take her for a ride.
She said she was brought back to Vanderbilt and was there  for five or six day when she was transferred to The Waters at Robertson.
Between  the time she went to Richland and her return to Vanderbilt, her conservator had filed a report showing she had won a substantial settlement from the accident. The conservator also moved to force the settlement money to be deposited with the court. The motion was granted.
As a result of the latest move, Sherrill said it is unlikely she will be able to attend a Wednesday hearing on the petition to make her conservatorship permanent with a lawyer, Cathryn Armistead, named in Vanderbilt's  original petition to act as the overseer of her health, finances and everything else.
Her attorney has filed a motion to have the conservatorship dismissed, or in the alternative, to have her brother named as conservator. The dismissal motion states that under state law, an action for a conservatorship must be filed in the county where the person resides and Sherrill owns a home in Sumner county and she and her family have lived there for decades.
Armistead did not respond to requests for comment.
In the meantime, Sherrill said she has been dosed with a powerful anti-psychotic drug, Haldol, to which she is allergic.
She said a doctor who has been overseeing her care for years filed an affidavit confirming she should not be administered the drug. She said she already has been injected with Haldol multiple times.

Abuse of Veterans Leads to Takeover

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/justice-department-announces-closing-ayudando-guardians-office

Lawyer Fights Subpoena in Thompson Estate Case

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

With the deadline just days away, the original attorney for the estate of the late U.S. Senator Fred Thompson has filed an objection to a subpoena requiring his deposition testimony this week.
In papers filed Tuesday in Davidson Probate Court, Charles A. Trost charged that he had not been given proper notice for the deposition and, in fact, still has not been served.
The objection is but the latest development in a continuing battle over the late senator and presidential candidate's estate.
Thompson's widow Jeri has filed an objection to a $14,000 claim filed by Trost's law firm, Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis, for work performed in an abortive effort to make last minute changes in the television actor's estate.
In the one-page filing Trost's lawyer said the subpoena was not properly served and that the estate's new attorneys had failed to follow proper procedures including providing at least 21 days advance notice.
The dispute over the bill first surfaced last year, but was put on hold about the same time Thompson's two sons by his first marriage charged that changes had been made in the estate plan when the late senator was no longer competent to approve such changes.
That dispute ended abruptly after Jeri Thompson complied with an order to provide the sons with details on any last minute changes in her husband's estate. She said the only change had been in the secondary beneficiary on a life insurance policy, a change that turned out to be irrelevant.
Because of the failed effort to change the estate plan's, the will finally filed for Thompson by Trost was over a decade old and omitted the two children from his marriage to Jeri.
The subpoena calls for Trost to appear for a deposition on Friday.
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Fred Thompson Estate Fee Fight Heats Up

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The battle over legal fees being sought from the estate of the late Fred Thompson is heating back up with a series of actions in Davidson Probate Court this week.
In papers filed Wednesday, Jeri Thompson, the widow of the late actor and U.S. Senator, hired a new lawyer who promptly issued a subpoena and deposition notice to Charles Trost, the Nashville, Tenn. attorney whose firm's fees are in dispute.
The new attorney representing Jeri Thompson is John P. Konvalinka, a Chattanooga based attorney, court records show.
The subpoena requires Trost to appear for a deposition on July 21 at the offices of Neal and Harwell, which also has represented Thompson's estate.
Though the issue was put on hold months ago, Jeri Thompson has questioned some $14,000 billed by Trost's firm, Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis for estate work done in the weeks before the late presidential candidate passed away on Nov. 1, 2015.
In one filing she termed the fee request,"inappropriate, improper and not a valid claim."
The effort by the Waller firm to update Thompson's will and estate plans was an apparent failure and his estate was finally opened with a will over a decade old that did not include his children from his second marriage with Jeri.
The legal fees are not the only dispute to surface in the Thompson estate. Two of Thompson's children by his first marriage intervened in the estate charging that estate assets may have been shifted just prior to the senator's death and at a time when he was not competent to approve any changes.
That suspicion was apparently triggered when the fee dispute became public.
After Jeri Thompson complied with a court order to disclose details of the estate assets and any last minute changes, the two sons dropped their claim.
Jeri Thompson stated that the only change executed just before the senator's death was an inconsequential one, involving a secondary beneficiary on a life insurance policy.
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Clemmons Parole Bid Denied

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A Tennessee board has turned down  parole for a disbarred Nashville attorney who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $1.3 million from wards and estates he had been appointed to oversee and protect.
The state Board of  Probation rejected  parole for John E. Clemmons, 69, who is serving a 25 year sentence after pleading guilty to stealing funds from wards and estates in Davidson and Rutherford Counties.
Clemmons began serving the sentence on Nov. 8, 2013. He is currently an inmate at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville.
He will not be eligible for another try at parole until May of 2020. Without parole his sentence will not end until 2038.
A spokeswoman for the board said the decision to deny parole was based on the seriousness of the offenses he committed. According to board records Clemmons could have been released next month had the board approved.
Board spokeswoman Melissa McDonald said the first votes cast on Clemmons' case were three concurring votes to deny parole and review again in three years. The vote affirmed a recommendation from a board hearing officer, she said
Clemmons' thefts were first detected by John Bratcher, clerk and master of the Rutherford County Chancery Court.
Bratcher said he had no sympathy for Clemmons and he was pleased with the board's decision.
"John Clemmons stole from the people he had taken an oath to protect. He stole from the weak and incompetent, and he did it over a period of 10 years. He caused almost unspeakable anguish for the families of his victims. He should serve his sentence day for day," Bratcher said.
Clemmons had been named conservator for Russell Church, a retired Rutherford County teacher then living in a nursing home.
In 2013 Bratcher testified that Clemmons stole over $123,910.02 from Church's estate. He said that overall Clemmons took $1.3 million from four victims  Clemmons eventually entered a guilty plea to Rutherford theft charges. Church, court records show, was the only victim to fully recover the stolen funds.
In court documents Bratcher said that Clemmons' began stealing from Church on the very first day of his appointment. On that day, Nov. 22, 2011, Bratcher said, Clemmons took $21,644.46 from three of Church's accounts. He said in a statement to the court that Clemmons apparently used the funds to gamble at a Mississippi casino.
Following the discovery in Rutherford County an investigation of the dozens of cases Clemmons was appointed to oversee in Davidson County turned up three more cases in which Clemmons had stolen thousands of dollars.
He entered guilty pleas in all three Davidson cases.
Tersesa Lyle, whose mother, Nannie Malone, was one of Clemmons' victims, said she only learned of Clemmons' parole bid when contacted by a reporter.
She said the family was only able to recover a small fraction of the amount Clemmons admitted to stealing. The recovery came from a bond Clemmons was required to post when he was appointed as Malone's conservator in 2008.
But Lyle said the bond value was well below the nearly $1 million in assets, including a 68-acre farm, Clemmons took control of. Records show some of Malone's properties were sold off at auction for back taxes Clemmons failed to pay.
Records show within a matter of  days of his appointment as Malone's conservator by Davidson Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy, Clemmons began writing checks to  himself.
Malone died on Oct. 25, 2012.
One of the Davidson victims, Donald Griggs, did recover $10,000 under a court settlement with Metro. The February settlement came in a suit filed by Paul Gontarek, who replaced Clemmons as Griggs conservator. He charged that had court officials  done their job in monitoring Clemmons' activities, the $157,850 could never have been stolen.
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Fred Thompson's Widow Regrets Estate Fight

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The widow of the late actor and politician Fred Thompson says she is glad the late U.S. Senator's two eldest sons by a prior marriage have agreed to drop their claims that improper and last minute changes were made in his estate.
Filings in Davidson Probate Court show Fred Thompson Jr. and Dan Thompson agreed to the dismissal of their claims after Jeri Thompson provided documents showing there were no last minute changes.
"Their claims do not and never did have any legal or factual merit," Jeri Thompson's lawyer William Ramsey said in a prepared statement.
"They misread (intentionally or otherwise) descriptions in legal bills that never should have been filed with the court," Ramsey said, adding "Like any other person who has been falsely accused, Mrs. Thompson is relieved that the justice system prevailed to defend her honor and word."
The dispute arose when another Nashville, Tenn. law firm, Waller Lansden, Dortch and Davis filed a claim against the Thompson estate. The claim included detailed information on an effort to put together a new will including the two children born after the one time presidential candidate married Jeri.
Ramsey said Jeri Thompson signed an affidavit stating that only one inconsequential change was made in the week's before Fred Thompson's death on Nov. 1, 2016. Nonetheless the two elder sons pressed their claim and Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy issued an order for Jeri Thompson to provide records regarding her late husband's assets and any changes made in the period leading up to his death.
The only change made was an inconsequential one involving the secondary beneficiary on a life insurance policy. Jeri Thompson was the primary beneficiary and had already redeemed the policy by the time the dispute arose, according to court records.
"Mrs. Thompsom regrets deeply the embarrassment done to her late husband's reputation, and the trauma and distress caused by these unfounded allegations," Ramsey concluded.
 Jeri Thompson has disputed the Waller Lansden claim for $14,450, but the matter has not yet been resolved. A hearing on the dispute was postponed at her request.
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Fight Over Fred Thompson Estate Settled

By Walter F. Roche Jr,

A family feud over the estate of the late actor/politician Fred Thompson has apparently been resolved and a complaint filed by his two oldest sons has been dismissed.
Papers filed this week in Davidson Probate Court in Nashville, Tenn. show that the claim against Thompson's widow Jeri Thompson by Fred Thompson Jr and Daniel D. Thompson was dismissed with the agreement of both parties.
The two eldest Thompson's sons filed the claim charging that Jeri Thompson might have made changes in the late senator's estate at a time when he was no longer competent to approve any such changes. The one time presidential candidate died Nov. 1, 2015.
Jeri Thompson responded by stating that the only change was an inconsequential one, involving a secondary beneficiary on a life insurance police that already had been redeemed by the primary beneficiary, Jeri Thompson.
Nonetheless, earlier this year Davidson Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy following a Jan. 23 hearing ordered Jeri Thompson to turn over to the two sons by a previous marriage a series of records including ownership records on a Florida property and the late senator's pension benefits from the Screen Actors Guild.
Jeri Thompson was ordered to provide the records, including any recent changes in ownership of his assets, by a Feb. 22 deadline.
The sons' claims followed disclosure that Jeri Thompson, the administrator of her husband's estate, was disputing a claim against the estate filed by a Nashville law firm for work done on Thompson's estate planning in the months before his death.
The billing statements from Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis showed that there was a last minute effort to marshall Thompson's assets, apparently in a scramble to draw up a new will.
The records indicate a new will was never drawn up and the will finally filed was over a decade old and omitted Thompson's two children born after his marriage to Jeri.
The dispute over the Waller firm's $14,450 bill has apparently not been resolved. A scheduled hearing on the issue was canceled at Jeri Thompson's request.

Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com