Ranch foreman is inheriting legal fight
Web Posted: 08/23/2007 01:31 PM CDT
HEBBRONVILLE — On June 15, as one of the wealthiest and most reclusive men in South Texas was quietly dying at his ranch 35 miles from town, the lawyers were very busy.The rich man's relatives, employees and attorneys were struggling for money and control, and time was short. A doctor had given the aging rancher less than 24 hours to live.
If Robert C. East, 87, were to die before they settled it, an even nastier legal fight likely would ensue.
East, a great-grandson of Richard King, founder of the fabled King Ranch, had no known descendants. He measured his worth in hundreds of millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of acres.
A pioneering cattleman in his own right, he had spent most of his life deep in the Jim Hogg County mesquite with the cattle and vaqueros of his family spread, the San Antonio Viejo Ranch.
East worked on horseback well into his 80s, preferred border Spanish to English and answered to "Roberto." He so rarely came to town that even some older, lifelong Hebbronville residents had never met him.
"He was a very old-fashioned kind of guy. Very old times, and very, very private," recalled one East employee, who, like others, asked not to be named.
In late 2006, East's health began to fail. By late spring, weakened by pneumonia, he was malnourished, gravely ill and increasingly uncommunicative.
A closed-door court battle began in May, when some relatives pressed for a court-appointed guardian.
The foreman
At stake was East's welfare — and administrative control of his considerable assets. Since the entire estate would go to a family wildlife trust, the parties bickered over who would be in charge after his death.
The fight centered on Oscar Ozuna, the ranch foreman since 2001 who claimed he had East's full confidence, having been raised on the ranch and having worked for him off and on for decades.
But East's relatives saw Ozuna as a manipulative Svengali, claiming the foreman had cut East off from his family, neglected his health and property and taken over his affairs.
In the fall, East had put shaky signatures to a set of legal documents that greatly benefited Ozuna.
There was a long-term employment contract that paid Ozuna $11,000 a month.
Ozuna, ranch employee Carilu Cantu Leal and Celestino Canales, a local justice of the peace, became sole officers of the Robert C. East Management Trust, which would control his wealth after his death.
Another instrument authorized a $500,000 payout to Ozuna from the trust, payable at East's death.
A broad power of attorney was granted to Ozuna, Cantu and Canales in the event East became incapacitated.
In court filings, Ozuna said all these actions clearly showed East wanted him in charge.
"In naming Mr. Ozuna as his attorney-in-fact, Robert C. East thereby expressed his confidence and trust in Mr. Ozuna's ability to conduct (East's) business affairs and to care for (East) in health-related matters," said a document filed by Ozuna lawyer Preston Hendrichson.
Doctors who saw East last spring noted he seemed most comfortable when Ozuna and other familiar ranch hands were present.
But Ozuna was self-serving, not benevolent, some of East's nieces and nephews argued.
"As soon as he was hired, Oscar Ozuna and persons associated with him began a long and deliberate plan to isolate Robert Claude East ... (and) control the flow of information to Robert Claude East, and consolidate their control over Robert Claude East," reads one court motion.
His assets, the motion said, have "at best been mismanaged and at worst systematically plundered by Oscar Ozuna and his associates."
Neither Ozuna nor Hendrichson responded to requests for comment. Nor did Cantu and her lawyer, Frank Enriquez. Reached in Hebbronville, Canales declined to comment.
'Incapacity is total'
District Judge Alex Gabert, at the request of East's lawyers, made the court hearings and case file off limits to the public, and most of the parties have declined to comment.
Information is also scarce on the streets of Hebbronville.
"This whole thing is touchy. I can't talk. Everyone has got the mums," said one longtime East acquaintance.
But the secret legal drama can be glimpsed in court documents obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.
The key issue was East's mental competence. Some of his relatives argued that he had been legally incapacitated for months and desperately needed an independent guardian.
Ozuna, Canales and Cantu, as well as two lawyers who represented East, claimed he was still able to make important decisions.
"I believe he has capacity, but I am not saying he has total capacity," testified Paul Price, one of East's lawyers, in a May 21 hearing.
When a court-approved psychiatrist visited the ranch on May 30, he found East "essentially non-communicative" and in failing health.
"Mr. East is described by all interviewed as someone who preferred to have few if any visitors. His greatest pleasure was the day-to-day operations of his ranch," Dr. Mark A. Burns reported.
"It is also reported that he has had challenging relationships with various family members and is largely estranged from his blood relations."
As to East's mental state, Burns was unequivocal.
"In terms of decision-making capacity, Mr. East appears to be severely impaired ... He clearly meets the definition of an 'incapacitated person.' ... His incapacity is total and a guardian should be appointed," he wrote.
No guardian was appointed.
But on the same afternoon he approved a comprehensive agreement, the judge named an attorney ad litem, who assured the court that it was in East's best interest.
Secret showdown
When they began mediating in May, the parties were millions of dollars apart on a deal that would remove Ozuna and his associates from the picture.
Although a partial deal was reached in early June, leading to Ozuna, Cantu and Canales being banned from the ranch, by midmonth nothing was final.
The lawyers were growing anxious. If East were to die before an agreement was reached, the mediation would become void, leaving Ozuna and his associates still in charge.
On June 15, a Friday afternoon, Judge Gabert presided in blue jeans at an emergency hearing in Rio Grande City. Ozuna, the sole witness, testified East was of sound mind last year when he signed the critical documents.
"He was in his five senses ... He knew everything he did," Ozuna said.
Moments later, Gabert signed an order approving East's will, the comprehensive settlement and various other documents. At 4:40 p.m. the order was stamped by the district clerk.
All told, about $2 million of East's money changed hands, with Ozuna reportedly receiving nearly $900,000. Cantu and Canales together were paid about $325,000. The balance went to pay their attorneys.
In exchange, the three agreed to drop all claims to East's estate, renounce their powers of attorney and step down as officers of the charity due to inherit East's money.
The hush-hush deal — which some parties to the litigation learned about later — came none too soon. On Saturday, a Catholic priest administered the last rites and by early Monday East was dead.
Three days later, more than 150 people paid their last respects in a graveside ceremony at the ranch. A mariachi played, poetry was read and East was laid to rest near his parents and siblings.
But if East had forever secured the peace and privacy he loved, the legal wrangling was hardly over.
Ten days after his death, the office of Attorney General Greg Abbott — which oversees all charities — notified all the parties that a complaint had been received about the East case.
"The matter is under review to determine if it warrants an investigation," said Abbott spokesman Tom Kelley.
Late last week, a lawyer for Helen Kleberg Groves, one of East's cousins, asked Gabert to set aside his approval of the settlement because Groves and other parties weren't consulted when the final deal was hammered out.
The lawyer, Dick DeGuerin of Houston, also argued that East was likely "totally incapacitated" long before he died and should have had a guardian appointed to protect his interests.
The motion further noted that toxicology test results aren't in, so "the causes of Robert C. East's death have not been fully explored."
"We're not satisfied that all the facts are known," DeGuerin said later by telephone. "When you have five parties to a controversy and only three are in the room when the settlement is made, it just doesn't smell right."
jmaccormack@express-news.net
| |
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment