The Court summarized its opinion as follows:
This opinion stands for the following propositions: (1) that certain debts that arose as a result of undue influence are nondischargeable pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §523(a)(2)(A), where the plaintiff proves by a preponderance of evidence that undue influence was exerted fraudulently; and (2) that in an adversary proceeding brought in the bankruptcy court to determine a debt to be nondischargeable, where no prior judgment has been awarded in a nonbankruptcy forum, the bankruptcy court may liquidate the damages, enter a nondischargeable judgment, and may also, where appropriate, award punitive damages as part of the nondischargeable judgment, where the plaintiff also proves actual malice in the commission of fraud by clear and convincing evidence. For the reasons stated, the instant complaint will be granted and a nondischargeable judgment in the amount of $200,000, will be entered jointly against both defendants, and the Court will enter an additional nondischargeable judgment for punitive damages against one of the defendants in the amount of $500,000.The case involved a caretaker of a very elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease and dementia. The caretaker and her husband stripped the elderly woman in her care of all of her financial assets and, perhaps, actually hastened her death. The following passaged gives one a flavor of the facts of the case:
It is obvious that between the two defendants, Mrs. Freeland was the most culpable as the leading force in the perpetration of the fraud in this case. She was the better educated of the two, and despite her advanced degree in ethics, the overwhelming evidence presented demonstrates that she was guilty of the following unethical and atrocious misconduct that was so malicious, shocking, evil, vile and reprehensible that it justifies the imposition of significant punitive damages against her individually:
(1) Mrs. Freeland isolated Mrs. Drummond from family members and friends and told Mrs. Drummond that they had abandoned her, in breach of her duty as a caregiver of the elderly to treat Mrs. Drummond with compassion.
(2) Mrs. Freeland denied Mrs. Drummond's family members and friends access to her, preventing them from socializing with her and from assessing her condition and from verifying that she was receiving proper care, in violation of her duty as a caregiver of an elderly and mentally-disabled person to communicate with her family members and friends.
(3) Mrs. Freeland denied medical treatment to Mrs. Drummond to alleviate her mental condition by not taking her to appointments, in violation of her duty to Mrs. Drummond as a care giver to an elderly and mentally-disabled person who was in need of continuing medical supervision, as required by the After Care Plan prepared by Bon Secours Hospital. The Court finds that Mrs. Freeland lied in her testimony at trial when she stated that the reason she did not take Mrs. Drummond to her appointment at Brighter Visions was because Mrs. Drummond refused to go. This directly contradicted her testimony in the Orphans Court to the effect that she had never heard of Brighter Visions at the time Mrs. Drummond was in her care.
(4) Mrs. Freeland removed Mrs. Drummond, an aged, infirm, mentally deficient person from the nursing home to which the hospital released her without any notice to or authorization from family members or trained medical personnel, which this Court finds was ultimately detrimental to Mrs. Drummond's well-being.
(5) Mrs. Freeland forged Mrs. Drummond's signature on a will and a power of attorney, whereby Mrs. Freeland fraudulently made herself a fiduciary in fact of Mrs. Drummond. She then abused her fiduciary position as personal representative and attorney in fact by transferring Mrs. Drummond's property to herself for her own benefit and that of her husband, Mr. Freeland, thereby depriving the plaintiff of her rights as the natural object of Mrs. Drummond's bounty.
(6) Mrs. Freeland obtained possession of Mrs. Drummond's house by use of the forged and fraudulent will, which she and her husband only returned to Taryn Drummond as personal representative of Mrs. Drummond's estate after the will was invalidated by the Orphans Court of Anne Arundel County, at great expense to Mrs. Drummond's estate and Ms. Taryn Drummond personally.
(7) Mrs. Freeland obtained possession of Mrs. Drummond's money in her bank accounts by having Mrs. Drummond make her the joint owner, in violation of her duty of trust to the disabled person and to her family and heirs.
(8) Mrs. Freeland dispossessed Mrs. Drummond's heirs by taking possession of Mrs. Drummond's house and money. She cheated Taryn Drummond, Mrs. Drummond's granddaughter, out of her rights to the money in Mrs. Drummond’s bank accounts by having Mrs. Drummond remove Taryn Drummond as joint owner of the accounts.
(9) Mrs. Freeland made false and misleading statements to Mrs. Drummond's attending physician who completed the death certificate when she told him that she was Mrs. Drummond's "foster daughter."
(10) Mrs. Freeland's misrepresentation to the physician that she was Mrs. Drummond’s "foster daughter" placed her in a false position as a member of the family to decline the performance of an autopsy on the body of Mrs. Drummond. This is highly relevant in light of the next finding.
(11) This Court views as highly suspicious the death of Mrs. Drummond just days after she was stripped of all of her assets by Mr. and Mrs. Freeland, while they kept her incommunicado in a childlike state in their personal residence, outside of the nursing facility and in their exclusive custody and control, away from her family and friends, who were completely ignorant of her whereabouts until Mrs. Freeland advised them of her death.
(12) After becoming Mrs. Drummond's fiduciary by fraud and deception, Mrs. Freeland misappropriated her funds, shared them with Mr. Freeland, and failed to account for their disposition or to remit them to Mrs. Drummond's rightful heirs.
The full opinion is available in PDF.
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