The client, Donald, had opened an account with Carter Bank & Trust in Roanoke, Virginia approximately ten years previously. At some point thereafter, Donald put his daughter’s name on the account for the purpose of leaving the money to his daughter upon his death. However, the bank inadvertently made Donald’s daughter a co-owner of the account by using paperwork different from what Donald had intended, which was to make her merely a beneficiary of the account upon his death. As time passed, Donald’s account, including several CDs, grew to more than $198,000.00. During this time of joint ownership with his daughter, Donald claimed that his daughter knew of the purpose of this arrangement, she never contributed to or used any of the money in the account, and she never withdrew any money for any purpose.
On March 19, 2018, Donald’s daughter and he argued over a package of bacon. His daughter stated that Donald accused her husband and her of stealing his bacon by eating it all and then putting the empty bacon package in his freezer. Shortly thereafter, she went to Carter Bank & Trust and withdrew all money from the account without Donald’s knowledge or consent. After early withdrawal penalties, the daughter left Carter Bank & Trust with a cashier’s check for $198,781.14 made payable to her. She then deposited the cashier’s check from Carter Bank & Trust into her own account at Freedom First Federal Credit Union.
When Donald learned of this withdrawal he felt hurt and betrayed, and called his daughter to demand that she return his money, which she rudely refused. Donald did not want to see his daughter in jail, and so he did not want to call the police. Instead, he threatened to hire and attorney to get the money back. His daughter told him, “Go ahead, do what you gotta do.” Donald then met with several attorneys and ultimately hired Attorney Harry F. Bosen, Jr.
To alleviate the risk of Donald’s daughter inflicting any additional financial harm to Donald, Bosen advised to Donald to revoke the Power of Attorney (POA) that he had previously given to his daughter, and he executed a new POA, prepared by Bosen, designating his brother as his POA. Donald executed a new Will, prepared by Bosen, naming his brother as the sole beneficiary of his estate.
Bosen researched for a legal mechanism to overcome a major hurdle in the case: the fact that Donald had signed documents at the bank that made his daughter a “co-owner” of the account, technically giving her equal control over the funds therein. Bosen decided that Donald’s report of the money in the account remaining untouched for the previous ten years during which his daughter was a co-owner, established at least a course of dealing and made it appear as if the account was an “account of convenience”, and that such a course of dealing was essentially an agreement as to the nature and status of the account.
Bosen then filed a Complaint in Roanoke City Circuit Court setting out three theories of recovery:
- Wrongful or Fraudulent Conversion,
- Unjust Enrichment, and
- Promissory Estoppel.
In the Complaint, Bosen asked for:
- temporary and permanent injunctive relief,
- punitive damages for conversion,
- attorney fees for fraud, and
- the return of all of Donald’s money and the penalties suffered on withdrawal.
A Preliminary Injunction prohibiting Donald’s daughter from using or spending any of the subject money was entered and then extended by agreement with the daughter’s attorney.
Bosen then subpoenaed documents from the daughter’s bank, Freedom First Federal Credit Union. Bosen discovered that approximately one week after depositing the subject money in her bank account, the daughter withdrew $200,000.00 from her account; and when Donald demanded she return the money to him, she put the $200,000.00 back into that same account at Freedom First Federal Credit Union.
Requests for Admissions were served on Donald’s daughter. An Answer was filed by her attorney. She denied the money was Donald’s!
A few days before a hearing set for extending the Preliminary Injunction, the daughter’s attorney called Bosen with a settlement offer: the daughter would refund all of Donald’s money and pay Donald the penalties if Donald would drop his claims for punitive damages and attorney fees. Donald agreed.
An Order modifying the Injunction was entered, allowing the money in the daughter’s Freedom First account to be utilized to pay Donald, which was then done. A final Order was entered, which dissolved the Injunction and dismissed the case.
Donald was extremely pleased with the outcome, and benefited greatly from Bosen’s representation because Bosen handled the case on an hourly fee basis rather than a contingency basis. Other attorney’s had offered to handle the case for Donald on a one third (1/3) percentage, which would have cost Donald more than $66,000.00 if they had been successful in recovering all of the money like Bosen was.
No attempt was made to recover the bacon.