Chapter 21. Passing Judgment #3
Randolph locked his gaze on his brother. “Kingsley manipulated Dad in the video he showed earlier. He always resented the fact that he wasn’t Dad’s favorite. He should be ashamed of himself.”
Kingsley leapt to his feet. “Liar!”
Whoa. The guy clearly had trouble controlling his anger. Beside me, Detective Alonzo sat up and leaned forward, preparing to intervene if needed.
Randolph scoffed. “It’s true and you know it.”
Kingsley’s hands fisted at his sides. “I ought to—!” He stopped himself before he said something on the record that he’d regret.
Randolph narrowed his eyes at his brother and stood in the witness stand, motioning Kingsley forward. “Come at me, bro. I’ll kick your butt just like I did when we were kids.”
That did it. Kingsley lost all self-control, growling like a rabid dog.
As he circled around his table, his attorney grabbed his arm in an attempt to hold him back.
Kingsley shook him off and stormed toward the witness stand.
The bailiff rushed forward and held up a hand to stop Kingsley, while the judge brought his gavel down hard. BAM!
The judge looked from one brother to the other. “There will be no more of this childish behavior in my courtroom or I will hold you both in contempt!”
The men muttered apologies and retook their seats.
The trial continued, with Randolph’s attorney calling several witnesses to the stand, including the head of the fundraising department at St. G’s.
The woman testified that she hadn’t even been aware Freddy intended to leave such a large amount to the hospital in his will until he’d passed away and the probate attorney contacted her.
“We mailed Freddy Atkinson the usual acknowledgments for his donations, and we sent him information in the mail and via e-mail about the opportunity to make testamentary gifts, but no one in our fundraising department ever spoke with him directly about including the hospital in his will. He was always invited to our annual galas, too, but our records show he stopped attending the galas in 2011.”
Per earlier testimony, I knew that was the year his wife had died. It probably wasn’t any fun to attend a big party without a date.
Randolph’s attorney called Freddy’s probate attorney to the stand, and introduced into evidence the handwritten instructions Freddy had provided for the preparation of his will.
By then, Freddy had already sold his shoe business for a sizable sum, and his estate was worth over three million.
While the large bequest to the children’s hospital was explicitly listed in his handwritten instructions, along with smaller bequests to a variety of other charities, no bequests to family were included.
In fact, the notes specifically stated that he was leaving nothing to his family because he had made significant gifts to them during his lifetime.
Randolph’s probate attorney went on to testify that, per the terms of the settlement agreement with Kingsley Atkinson, all of the one million dollars Freddy had left to the hospital was paid out from the estate to Kingsley, who in turn paid three-quarters of it to St. G’s.
She produced a copy of the agreement, which set forth these terms. “Kings- ley insisted on this arrangement for tax reasons. Inheritances aren’t taxable, so the bequest didn’t result in any taxable income to Kingsley, but he got to take a charitable deduction for his payment to St. G’s. It was clever financial maneuvering.”
When the witness was turned over to Kingsley’s attorney, he attempted to discredit the probate attorney’s testimony by asking whether it was unusual for a person to exclude their loved ones from their will.
Randolph’s attorney objected on the grounds of relevance.
“What other people do or don’t do with their property is not important here.
The only relevant issue is what Freddy Atkinson chose to do with his estate. ”
The judge sustained the objection, which led to irate whispers between Kingsley and his lawyer.
Once the probate attorney had left the stand, Randolph’s attorney held up a thick stack of documents. “These are the numerous petitions Kingsley Atkinson has filed with the courts in recent years, as well as the related settlement agreements. I’d like to offer them into evidence.”
Kingsley’s attorney jumped to his feet. “Objection! Other lawsuits are irrelevant to this action.”
“They are absolutely relevant,” Randolph’s lawyer countered. “Kingsley Atkinson is a professional plaintiff. He has repeatedly wasted the court’s valuable time with nuisance suits such as this one in the hopes he’ll be offered settlements.”
The judge said, “I’ll allow it.”
More irate whispers were exchanged between Kingsley and his lawyer.
Randolph’s attorney provided the judge with a copy of the documents and handed another set to Kingsley’s lawyer.
She stood silently at the defendants’ table for a few minutes, giving the judge time to look the documents over, then quickly reviewed the grounds of each petition.
All of Kingsley’s claims sounded specious.
He’d sued his dentist for three hundred thousand dollars for an allegedly defective crown.
He’d sued a Mercedes dealership for ten million on the grounds that a wheel had not been properly reattached after he’d had his tires rotated, and alleged he and others could have been killed as a result.
He’d sued a furniture company for fifty thousand because their truck left an oil stain on his driveway when delivering a new mattress.
Each of the suits addressed an issue that was easily remedied and that most other people took in stride.
When she was done reviewing the lawsuits, Randolph’s attorney rested her case, and closing arguments began.
Kingsley’s attorney went first, standing before the bench.
“Your honor, as you heard in Tyler Yee’s podcast, Randolph called Kingsley an entitled, money-grubbing schemer and asserted that Kingsley had stolen money from the children’s hospital.
These statements were outright lies with devastating consequences to Kingsley, as we have clearly shown. ”
Had they? I wasn’t at all convinced and, from the dull look on the judge’s face, he wasn’t, either.
Randolph’s attorney was brief in her closing argument as well.
“We’ve shown that everything Randolph said about his brother in the Yee Spills the Tea podcast was factual.
There were no misstatements and, therefore, no grounds for damages.
We respectfully request that the plaintiff be awarded nothing, and that sanctions be imposed on him for his abuse of the justice system with his baseless lawsuits. ”
The judge wasted no time raising his gavel.
“I’m not going to issue sanctions today, but the plaintiff is on notice that if he brings further lawsuits, they will be subject to extreme scrutiny.
” He gave Kingsley a pointed look before declaring, “Judgment for the defendants, with costs of court and attorney fees to be paid by the plaintiff.” Down came the gavel. Bang!
The back of Kingsley’s neck turned purple with rage and his body went rigid, but he kept his mouth shut.
He hadn’t won a dime here today. Instead, he was now on the hook for thousands of dollars.
He cut a disgusted look at his lawyer, as if the ruling were the man’s fault.
It wasn’t. He’d had nothing to work with.
While Randolph and Bianca celebrated their victory by hugging each other, Kingsley and his lawyer stood, turned, and made a beeline for the door.
They didn’t get far.