re: My guess at what happened.....

I see it exactly as you do

quote:

---

I don't think they have thought that gar ahead. This could backfire badly.

---

Any lawyer not wanting to be sued for malpractice would have laid out IN WRITING the exact consequences to Rita, et. al., of having Benson declared incompetent BEFORE the filing of any suit. And, yes, that would definitely include consideration as to the contents of the last "good" will as that would be the controlling document.

Remember, this suit has two parts to it. The first is the irrevocable trust issue, which Rita, et. al., will almost certainly win unless Benson can come up with another $1.5-2 billion replacement for the value of the teams.

The second part of the suit is the incompetency declaration. I believe this part is simply about CURRENT control of the team. Again, it's purely a guess, but once Rita, et. al., win the first part, this part won't be as big of a deal. Basically, as the primary beneficiaries in a contentious trust, no trustee in the world is going to wipe his a$$ without getting permission from then beneficiaries to do so. And, if they don't agree, he'll run straight to a judge.


ETA: Benson will probably make some arguments about being pressured or fraudulently induced to place the team in trust. Maybe that's why he fired Rosenberg??? He might want to make the argument that Rita became close to Rosenberg and the two colluded to unduly pressure him to put the team in trust??? It's all speculation at this point.

quote:

---

And don't you think that Benson, his wife or reps would have consulted an attorney before cutting the Leblanc's off? Certainly if everyone in the general public expected a lawsuit from the Leblanc's, the Bensons' attorneys would have expected and prepared for the same.

---

Benson did. Phil Whittman and Paul Cordes.

Once the team was placed in trust, it was pretty much a done deal.

At that point, any attempt to take the team back would require that Benson fire the proverbial first shot. He did -- by instructing Cordes to basically get the teams back by substituting a nonrecourse note into the trust.

I guarantee you that Cordes has mounds of paperwork and CYA letters telling Benson what the probable result would be, i.e., a lawsuit. I don't know if he anticipated the competency issue -- that would probably depend upon whether he had any reason to believe that Benson was growing senile in any way. But, I guarantee you that Cordes told Benson that his action of trying to replace the teams with an unsecured promissory note would GUARANTEE a resulting lawsuit. At the very least, Cordes knew that any competent trustee would never take on that level of potential personal monetary exposure as he would certainly have been sued for breach of fiduciary duty for carrying out those instructions. And, there's no way Cordes didn't write several CYA letters.

quote:

---

his action of trying to replace the teams with an unsecured promissory note

---

That is what happened? Hilarious. Gayle didn't think that one through. You had an NFL and NBA team now you get a IOU guaranteed by nothing but hey it is written in 36 font size.

quote:

---

I think you mean Gayle (second wife) where you say Rita (spoiled partygirl granddaughter).

---

Gayle is the 3rd wife. First two died.

quote:

---

Yup. And, in doing so, he and his lawyers SEVERELY undervalued both teams.

---

If this is what really happened everyone on this board would be fighting it out in court. Including the ones who appear to hate Rita.

Thanks. Tom has been thru a lot with losing two wives, and at least one child to death. I sure hope he lives long enough to see the outcome he wants and deserves.

I used to have Brian Harris as a client (sold all of his car dealerships to Tom in the 80's and retired, only to come back and become successful again in Baton Rouge and other areas) and he always speaks highly of Tom.