Suing a Family Trust

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan, an heiress of Bucksbaum shopping-mall clan has sued the family trust as well as its lawyers for breach of fiduciary duty and malpractice.  She blamed them for investment losses from her trust shares worth $300 million. 

The 40-year-old is a daughter of Martin Bucksbaum, who’s the late co-founder of General Growth Properties Inc.  She filed this lawsuit in Chicago U.S. District Court naming attorneys Earl Melamed and Marshall Eisenberg with their law firm named Neal, Gerber, and Eisenberg LLP.  Also included in the suit is General Trust Co., Bucksbaum family trust as defendants.

The attorney representing Melamed, Eisenberg, and their law firm is Atty. Stephen Novack, who claims that losses suffered by Bucksbaum family trust were truly caused by the souring stock market and the economy.  General Growth is based in Chicago - it manages and owns over 200 malls in the U.S. but it filed for bankruptcy (Chapter 11) protection in April carrying a debt load of $27 billion.

The lawsuit of Mrs. Scanlan alleges the attorneys (also the trustees) of breach in their fiduciary duties since they kept most of the assets of the trust in General Growth stock during the time that stock has declined in 2007 from $67 to $1 last year.  Allegedly, the attorneys also failed to inform her about the loans made to executives of General Growth with a total of $100 million.

Tags: attorneys, Bucksbaum, Chicago, Earl Melamed, Family Trust, General Growth Properties, heiress, law, lawsuit, lawyers, malpractice, Marshall Eisenberg, Martin Bucksbaum, Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan, Stephen Novack, stock, sue, trust
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DUI Arrests of Chicago Police Officer Investigated

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

Joe Parker, a Chicago police officer may have falsified information in two of his DUI arrests. The local police department has already launched an internal investigation on this matter.

At the same time, Chicago’s Independent Police Review Authority is also investigating another DUI arrest apparently made by the same officer on South Lake Shore Drive. As a result, sources have told Chicago Sun-Times that the state’s attorney’s office dropped dozens of DUI cases from Parker due to questions about his arrests.

The subpoena came from Wayne Jackson, represented by Attorney Gregory Kulis. Jackson insists that he passed the Breathalyzer and field sobriety tests on the night of May 10, 2006. However, Parker still arrested him.

Now, the Internal Affairs Division of Chicago Police Department is investigating that case in addition to Parker’s arrest of Anthony Lindsey on March 1, 2008 and Eric Turner on May 27, 2008. All of them are arrested for DUI charges in the same area.

Prosecutors have been evaluating video recordings taken from Parker’s squad car and his arrest reports. Sources said that the videos of his administered field sobriety tests are inconsistent with his statements in the arrest reports.

As a result, Cook County Traffic Court asked Chicago Police Department to constantly assign video-equipped cars to officers who are frequently making DUI arrests.

Tags: Anthony Lindsey, attorney, Chicago, dui, Eric Turner, Gregory Kulis, Joe Parker, Wayne Jackson
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