Settled!
By James Armbrust
My clinical experience consisted of a ten month tenure of real life litigation and negotiation experience. My law school classes started to make sense through the “real life” application of the law in the Clinic.
In January 2005, I was asked by my supervising attorney, Visiting Professor Curt Waugh, to handle the final settlement and negotiation of a case that had been active in the Clinic for over five years.
The case involved a complex matter in which the court found the defendant, an administrator of a family trust with a net value in the millions, in breach of fiduciary trust against the estate he was overseeing. Thus, a judgment was rendered against the defendant for nearly two hundred thousand dollars.
When I began to pursue the matter with the defendant’s attorney, it became clear to me that this was not a hypothetical law school final exam, but rather a complex matter. I would have to order appraisals for property, and comb through countless articles of incorporation, pleadings and correspondence.
Once I completed the task of organizing the relevant background materials, I decided, along with the approval of Professor Waugh and my client, Dean Petty, who had been appointed by the court as the Administrator of the Trust, that I would send a letter that effectively gave the defendant one of two choices. The choices were to either pay the judgment in full or have a foreclosure executed on real estate he owned. The real estate would then be taken as equitable payment of the outstanding judgment.
After sending the letter to opposing counsel, we received what we thought would be a rejection of our offer to settle the matter in full. We held this belief because for several years, the Clinic’s attempts to settle had been rejected. However, the letter we received this time was different. Our offer to settle for a six figure number was accepted.
Over the next several months, mutual releases were exchanged, heirs contacted, and hearings held. Finally, we received the court’s approval to proceed with final settlement. It should be mentioned that the creditors and parties wronged by the defendant’s indiscretions were remedied in a manner acceptable to all parties. The Law Clinic recovered $2,700 in expenses and was awarded attorney fees. The money awarded in attorney’s fees has been deposited in the Law Clinic’s litigation fund which gives the Clinic the ability to pursue additional matters on behalf of clients who can’t afford litigation costs. This is the accomplishment for which I am most proud.
On behalf of many interns who have worked on this case, I would like to thank the Clinic professors and staff for the support and knowledge they helped me apply in receiving the justified result for years of hard work.
