Spotting Executor Abuse, Mismanagement, and Undue Influence in Trust and Estate Cases

John Scheerer | Sacks, Glazier, Franklin, Lodise, McMurtrey & Scheerer, LLP

John Scheerer focuses his practice exclusively on trusts, estates and conservatorship litigation. He has successfully handled a variety of matters before the Probate Department of the Superior Court as well as appeals in the California Court of Appeal resulting in multiple successful appellate decisions.

Mr. Scheerer represents beneficiaries, trustees, professional fiduciaries, and non-profit institutions such as national universities. He balances clever advocacy with an unbiased and realistic assessment of each of his client’s cases in order to provide the most cost-effective favorable outcome.

Representative examples of Mr. Scheerer’s practice include prosecuting and defending will and trust contests, defending creditor’s claims in decedents’ trusts or estates, defending conservatorship proceedings, and prosecuting and defending breach of fiduciary duty and surcharge claims against trustees.

Most recently, Mr. Scheerer was successful in achieving the following results for clients: Successfully defended a multibillion-dollar claim against the Barron Hilton Trust; obtained terminating sanctions in addition to demurrers sustained without leave to amend against a disgruntled relative of his client, a trustee of a trust holding substantial assets; obtained a dismissal in subsequent related conservatorship litigation; obtained an affirmation in favor of his clients, both trustee and beneficiaries of a trust, after an extensive appellate process, which included Mr. Scheerer’s oral advocacy in the California Court of Appeal.

At his previous firm, Mr. Scheerer was part of a team that served as trial counsel to Sumner Redstone, controlling shareholder of Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp., securing complete dismissal of the lawsuit after the first day of trial.

Mr. Scheerer’s work in trusts and estates litigation has earned recognition on the list of Best Lawyers and Southern California Super Lawyers Rising Stars, and as an “Up-and-Coming” Notable Practitioner by Chambers and Partners. Client and peer feedback to Chambers reinforces his reputation for effective representation and skilled advocacy: “I continue to be impressed with John’s responsiveness, and his knowledge of our case and how best to defend us.” “John has a good demeanor, even in hostile cases, and is an effective writer and advocate.”

Active in the legal community, Mr. Scheerer currently serves as a Board Member for the Beverly Hills Estate Planning Council and is Vice-Chair, Professional Responsibility for the American Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section (RPTE). He has also spoken at the ABA RPTE Annual National CLE Conference.

Mr. Scheerer obtained his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, where he attended on a full merit scholarship and where he was elected to the Order of the Coif as well as received the Dean’s Award for the highest grade in Wills and Trusts. Mr. Scheerer also served on the UCLA Law Review as Associate Editor. He received his B.A. degree from UCLA, summa cum laude.

Prior to joining Sacks, Glazier, Franklin & Lodise, Mr. Scheerer was a Litigation Associate at Hueston Hennigan LLP, and previously at Irell and Manella LLP, practicing in complex commercial litigation and serving as counsel in high profile civil suits.

David S. Zweighaft CPA/CFF, CFE, CBA | DSZ Forensic Accounting & Consulting LLC

David is a Fraud Subject Matter Expert with over twenty years of experience serving the legal and financial services communities with both consulting and expert witness services. David’s background includes Accounting, Auditing, Finance and Project Management experience dealing with diverse industries. He has an extensive background in Accounting Policies and Procedures and Financial Reporting with an emphasis on investigating financial statement misrepresentations, assessing the effectiveness of internal controls and their impact on operational efficiencies. David is responsible for providing law firm clients with litigation consulting services including conducting investigations, performing analyses and calculating economic damages, providing expert witness testimony and performing due diligence reviews. Prior to starting his own practice, David spent four years at a risk management advisory firm as Associate Director of their Fraud Risk Management practice and over thirteen years with global public accounting firms focusing on litigation and forensic services.

Some of David’s special assignment and consulting projects include:

• David spent over three years managing the largest Holocaust asset investigation relating to Swiss Banking activity in the United States, compiling dossiers on hundreds of account holders. He also conducted the relationship management with the bank and with the New York State Banking Department, setting engagement strategy, discussions and presentation of findings with senior client management and their outside counsel. He managed the day-to-day operations of the engagement, including staff training and management, goal setting, production review and quality control.
• Assisting on numerous post-acquisition purchase price disputes, examining closing balance sheets and subsequent adjustments in connection with various Purchase Agreements. These engagements entailed meeting with client’s financial management to review potential adjustments to purchase price based on GAAP, prior accounting practice and contractual agreements; conducting numerous interviews of opposing parties’ accounting and financial reporting staff, to determine areas of inconsistency in financial reporting practices; and drafting Notices of Objection and Submissions to be presented in arbitration.
• Analyzing insurance claims in connection with business losses in order to assess their accuracy and conformity with the terms of the governing policies.
• Tracing misappropriated assets that were diverted through fraud and assisted plaintiffs’ counsel and federal prosecutors in recovering hundreds of millions of dollars for victims’ restitution. David also served as a contractor to the US Department of Justice (SDNY) working with the offices of the Federal Prosecutors and the US Marshals as a Senior Forfeiture Financial Specialist, identifying, locating and recovering assets in satisfaction of criminal and civil monetary judgments.
• Performing analyses and calculations of economic damages in dozens of matters, relating to industries including real estate, financial services, professional partnerships, publishing, software development, retail and apparel.
• An experienced expert witness, David has testified in depositions, before arbitration panels and judicial hearing officers, as well as in state and federal courts.
• David is the former Chairman of the New York State Society of CPAs Litigation Services Committee and has served several times as the Co-Chair of the Annual Anti-Fraud Conference. He is also active on the AICPA’s Anti-Fraud Task Force, developing practice aids for forensic professionals.

In addition to assisting his clients, David has authored numerous articles about fraud and accounting issues, and has spoken before many professional groups. He has been adjunct instructor at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, where he teaches auditing and forensic accounting and litigation consulting, and has been a faculty instructor at international conferences for anti-fraud professionals.

Session I – Don’t Blindly Trust Them with Your Trust: Recognizing Fiduciary Abuse and Undue Influence in Trusts and Estates | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

• Spotting fiduciary abuse in trusts and estates
• Grounds for fiduciary removal
• Undue influence in trusts and estates

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Session II – Who Can You Trust: Fiduciary Abuse in Estates and Trusts | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

• Understand the benefits and risks of having a beneficiary serving as a fiduciary for a trust or estate
• Learn to recognize the signs of fraud, embezzlement and abuse
• Understand the importance of maintaining preventive and detective controls over financial reporting