What Happened
When the evidence in a case is undeniable, a motion for summary judgment can be filed to resolve the matter without trial, resulting in time and cost savings for the litigants.
In a case that had dragged on for three years without resolution, Keystone stepped in and secured a resolution in less than a year with its effective use of a motion for summary judgment.
We represented the adult child of a decedent who was being sued by his brother, the trustee of the decedent’s trust, for allegedly: (1) having convinced the decedent to enter into several real estate transactions with him; (2) having kept all the income from such properties for himself; and (3) having convinced the decedent to leave the properties to him at death.
The brother was claiming the decedent, their father, did not have sufficient mental capacity to enter into these transactions or leave the properties to our client, and that our client had taken advantage of him. However, our client explained that the decedent did have capacity and that the income from the properties benefitted him during his lifetime. In addition, he clarified that his father had left him his share of the properties they co-owned at his death as a show of gratitude.
How Keystone Was Able to Help
Our client had been represented by another attorney for three years, but very little progress had been made on the case. However, upon being retained, Keystone immediately obtained the father’s medical records, which showed that the father did not have any difficulties with his mental functioning when he entered into the real estate transactions and executed documents leaving the properties at issue to our client.
Thereafter, Keystone took a deposition — i.e., a recorded interview under oath during the litigation process — of the client’s brother. Our attorneys proceeded to question the brother for seven hours, securing testimony from him in which he admitted to not having any knowledge of wrongdoing by our client or any reason to believe his father had mental deficits when he entered into the real estate dealings with our client. In fact, Keystone even secured the brother’s admission that the father had capacity during all relevant periods, effectively undercutting the very basis of his lawsuit. Based on the father’s medical records and the brother’s deposition testimony, Keystone prepared a comprehensive motion for summary judgment, arguing that there were no material factual disputes between the parties and that our client was entitled to expedited judgment as a matter of law.
A successful motion for summary judgment completely disposes of a case, meaning that the brother’s lawsuit would come to an end if the court were to grant our firm’s motion. While probate courts rarely grant summary judgment motions, our attorneys believed the evidence from the medical records and brother’s deposition admissions were strong enough to give their client a fighting chance to prevail without going through years of additional litigation or a trial.
After reviewing the parties’ respective motion papers and hearing oral arguments by both parties’ counsel, the court granted Keystone’s motion for summary judgment. Ordinarily, obtaining such an outcome would have taken several more years and cost the client significantly more in legal fees.
But, thanks to Keystone’s efficiency and diligence, the case was resolved in our client’s favor in less than a year from the date our firm was retained.
If you wish to learn more, we encourage you to check out our successes from:
