Steven G. Wraith and Kellan W. Byrne won summary dismissal in Brown v. Brown, et al. Plaintiffs, beneficiaries of a land holding trust, brought claims against the trustees under the Trust and Estate Dispute Resolution Act (TEDRA) for breach of fiduciary duties. The parties jointly hired an independent fraud investigator to examine the trust’s accounting. After an examination spanning more than three months, the fraud investigator found no evidence of trustee wrongdoing, and concluded that the trust had suffered no loss as a result of the trustees’ administration of the trust. Steve and Kellan thus argued that plaintiffs had failed to prove that any of the alleged fiduciary breaches had proximately caused them any injury. The Court found that net loss to the beneficiaries was the proper measure of damages; that the comprehensive audit found no such loss; and that plaintiffs had therefore failed to establish the necessary element of proximate damages. The Court accordingly granted dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims against the defendant trustees.
Mar 18, 2021