Estate of Theodore C. Chemodurow, Deceased, Gail C. Williams, Executor - Page 25




                                       - 25 -                                         
          against not only the estate of Georgia Hohensee and the Jakubeks            
          but also anyone else claiming an interest in the property.                  
          Petitioner has failed to prove that Ms. Williams did not have the           
          incentive vigorously to defend her ownership of the Abagail                 
          ranch.                                                                      
               Second, petitioner argues that petitioner has better                   
          procedural opportunities in this Court than Ms. Williams had in             
          the State court.  In the Williams declaration, she states:                  
               During the trial of the consolidated Montana cases, the                
               court refused to admit important evidence which I                      
               believe supported my ownership of the Abagail Ranch.                   
               As I understood it, the reason for the refusal to admit                
               the supporting evidence was that my attorney in this                   
               action had failed to produce that evidence during the                  
               discovery stage of the cases because he thought it was                 
               unnecessary.                                                           
               In Cause No. 96-109, the State court found:                            
               At trial, Gail produced an alleged agreement with                      
               Theodore for the Abagail Ranch and Lot #3 dated in                     
               August of 1995.  The agreement for the 400 acres was                   
               not listed on Gail’s list of exhibits in the Pretrial                  
               Order nor was it identified by Gail in her answers to                  
               the discovery requests.  Gail marked the putative                      
               agreement for the 400 acres as Def. Ex. 510 in DV 96-60                
               and it was refused, but another agreement for land in                  
               the Subdivision had been admitted as Def. Ex. 510A.  In                
               DV 96-109, Gail switched the exhibit labels on the                     
               exhibits and attempted to introduce the 400 acre                       
               agreement as Def. Ex. 510A.  The 400 acre agreement was                
               again rejected.  While the Court eventually admitted                   
               the document on other grounds, the Court does not find                 
               this late discovered 400 acres agreement to be a                       
               credible or authentic document or one of which the                     
               defendants in DV 96-109 had adequate notice.                           
               Therefore, the Court considers it of no consequence.                   
               We assume that the document referred to in the court’s                 
          finding is the document petitioner refers to.  The short answer             




Page:  Previous  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011