Elder Law Court Cases from 2007 (USA)

A Few of Our Favorite Elder Law Court Cases From 2007


In our view, some of them were more interesting, or more instructive, or more enlightening, than the others. Let’s take a look at a few of our favorite 2007 court cases (the ones that didn't make our weekly newsletter as separate reports):
Last year there were dozens of elder law cases decided in appellate courts across the country. Quite a few established important precedents, and taken together they marked a continuing growth in the importance of elder issues in the legal system.
Ellzey v. James, Mississippi Court of Appeals, November 20, 2007. Mr. Ellzey gave his longtime companion a deed to oil and mineral rights he owned, intending to hide them from the state Medicaid agency. Later he lost the unrecorded deed he had gotten her to sign returning the rights to him. He sued for return of the property, but the courts ruled that his admitted intent to defraud Medicaid prevented him from seeking equitable relief.

Bogert v. Morrison, Florida Court of Appeals, November 28, 2007. Mr. Morrison lived in New Jersey but was vacationing in Reno, Nevada, when he had an accident resulting in a head injury. He returned home with his partner, but his children invited him to Florida for a visit. While he was in Florida, they initiated a guardianship proceeding; his companion promptly filed a petition in New Jersey. The Florida court initially ruled that it had jurisdiction since the first case was filed there. The appellate court reversed after finding that ties to New Jersey were stronger.

The Morrison case was not the only interstate guardianship decision in 2007. The Florida Court of Appeals also rendered two separate opinions in connection with the guardianship of Betty Graham after one of her sons simply moved her to California in the middle of the Florida guardianship proceedings. We reported on those cases at the time they were released, including the odd turn the appellate court took in the second of the two appeals.

In the Matter of the Revocable Trust of Margolis, Minnesota Court of Appeals, May 22, 2007. After Naomi Margolis became incapacitated and had to move into a nursing home, her husband (who she had named as her trustee) used her funds to pay for her care. Her son argued that trust law prohibited a trustee from using trust assets to satisfy his own legal obligations, and that Ms. Margolis’ husband had a duty to pay for her care out of his own funds. The appellate court ultimately agreed and ordered the lower court to reconsider whether to award judgment against the trustee of up to more than $200,000. The Margolis case relies on an unusual state statute, but serves as a warning to spouses who act as trustee over an incapacitated spouse's assets.

Hall v. Time Warner, Inc., California Court of Appeals, August 2, 2007. After the television series Celebrity Justice sent a reporter and cameraman to interview Marlon Brando’s housekeeper in her nursing home, her family sued. Although the trial judge refused to dismiss the complaint, the appellate court ruled that Mr. Brando’s will and estate plan were legitimately a subject of public interest, and that the television program was exercising its First Amendment rights. The trial judge was ordered to conduct further hearings on whether the housekeeper would be likely to prevail on the merits at trial, and if not her complaints of trespass, intrusion upon seclusion, intentional infliction of emotional distress and elder abuse must be dismissed without a trial.



SOURCE: elderlaw.com