Chapter 19 - Meridian’s surcharge case
Trust court considered:
Bennett Residential invoices.
Harold’s approvals.
North Elm conflict.
Carla’s management contract.
Findings became narrower than I wanted.
Not all overbilling was fraud.
Some markup was permitted.
Some emergency fees were poorly documented but plausible.
Some mistakes resulted from chaotic bookkeeping.
But specific categories were unsupported.
Final preliminary determination:
Bennett Residential owed trust:
$82,600
for duplicate, misallocated, or unauthorized charges.
Trust owed Bennett Residential:
$46,300
for legitimate unpaid approved services.
Net:
$36,300 payable back to trust.
Then Carla’s acquisition fee?
Never earned.
Sale never happened.
No payment.
Then North Elm due diligence advance of $40,000.
Bennett Residential chose that expense.
Not trust responsibility.
Then Harold’s condo repairs charged to trust:
$22,000.
Court ordered Harold reimburse.
He argued Carla mislabeled.
Judge split responsibility after evidence:
Harold:
$14,000.
Bennett Residential:
$8,000 already included in net calculation.
No double recovery.
Then legal/accounting fees.
Court could surcharge for bad-faith related-party proposal.
May you like
Reserved.
Main property-control issue still open.
