The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About11-08-13 n �-'-' c�*t � , � O �. G? C:> � ;.o c� ;X"S W -t7 C-`-- ,..��G C� Robert B. Eyre, Esquire Attorneys for Robert �.�Y�mm�a, IIr�,,3 �;; I.D. No. 41990 `' �,. �, � �„ �: ,� �c �, -�, .�i Foehl & Eyre, P.C. `� �'' � ==� . �� -, ca -,� �: :_� 27 East Front Street `-- �� '�� '`' � �.� �.; <.� Media, PA 19063 �� 610-566-5926 � IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA In re: ESTATE OF ROBERT M. . MUMMA, Deceased. : ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION . No. 21-86-398 MOTION FOR RECONISDERATION OF ORDER OF NOVEMBER 1, 2013 DENYING (IN PART) MOTION ON BEHALF OF ROBERT M. MUMMA II TO ADJOURN DATES FOR BRIEFING AND ARGUMENT OF OBJECTIONS TO AUDITOR'S REPORT Robert B. Eyre, Esquire, as counsel for Robert M. Mumma, II, ("Mr. Mumma"), hereby requests this Court to reconsider its Order of November 1, 2013 ("November 1 Order"), denying in part the Motion on Behalf of Robert M. Mumma, II to Adjourn Dates for Briefing and Argument of Objections to the Auditor's Report ("Motion to Adjourn"), filed on October 30, 2013, and in support thereof states as follows: l. Petitioner filed the Motion to Adjourn in the above matter on October 30, 2013. 2. Petitioner was advised to supplement the Motion and contemporaneous Petition of Robert B. Eyre, Esquire and Foehl & Eyre, P.C. to Withdraw as Counsel 1 ("Petition to Withdraw") with a statement concerning the position of the other parties on same, and did so on October 31, 2013. 3. The Motion to Adjourn and Petition to Withdraw are hereby incorporated by reference herein. 4. On November 1, 2013, this Court issued an Order substantially denying the Motion to Adjourn (allowing an additional week for briefs, but not adjourning the argument) and granting the Petition to Withdraw on the condition that a consent be filed by Mr. Mumma to the same. 5. The undersigned has received no further consent from Mr. Mumma, and has not had any direct communication with him other than a document entitled Brief of Robert M. Mumma, II in the Estate of Robert M. Mumma in Opposition to the Report of Auditor Joseph Buckley (the "Client Brief'), with a request that the undersigned file it for him. 6. The Client Brief is being included as Exhibit "A" to the undersigned's Brief on Behalf of Robert M. Mumma, II in Support of Objections to the Auditor's Report of August 7, 2013, and in Further Support of Motion for Adjournment of Briefing and Argument. It is mentioned here because it includes additional information relevant to the reconsideration of the Motion for Adjournment that the undersigned believes he is compelled to bring to the attention of the Court, here quoting directly from the concluding paragraph of the Client Brief: I believe that the Court is totally unfair in not granting our request for an extension of time until early January. The Auditor was granted 20 months worth of extensions. Likewise I will not be able to argue on the 12th since I will not be out of the hospital. I expected Lisa Morgan to object but believe it is demeaning of the Court to 2 expect a party to forego a necessary lifesaving operation or loose their opportunity for a full and fair hearing. This is particularly true where there is no schedule for hearing the objections to the Fifth accounts and the Auditor's intern reports are the subject of the Superior Court Appeals. (Emphasis added) 7. The undersigned was aware of some of these details when the Motion for Adjournment was filed, but did not have clear authorization from Mr. Mumma to disclose anything more than the fact that he (Mr. Mumma) had reported he was unavailable for medical reasons. That lack of clarity may itself have been the result of Mr. Mumma's condition and the strained relations between him and the undersigned reported in the Petition to Withdraw. The undersigned was not comfortable disclosing more about his client's medical condition than that which Mr. Mumma had expressly authorized. 8. Since Mr. Mumma has expressly authorized the filing of the Client Brief, and in it discloses that he will actually be hospitalized on November 12 for a necessary lifesaving operation, the undersigned believes it is not only necessary that the Court be advised of them, but that the undersigned also advise the Court that this is consistent with what he was told previously by Mr. Mumma. 9. The undersigned remains hesitant to disclose more details about a client's private medical situation without more explicit authorization, but consistent with the information now disclosed in the Client Brief, the undersigned believes it is appropriate to confirm that medical reasons reported to him previously and referred to in the Motion to Adjourn included that Mr. Mumma was to undergo a very serious surgical procedure to treat a life threatening condition, that he would be hospitalized sometime in early November and that he may not recover fully until January. 3 10. The undersigned can also report that he understands that Mr. Mumma is in the hospital as of sometime this week and is not taking calls or email at this time. 11. The Motion to Adjourn, it is submitted, was already supported by good cause, including the difficulty of completing a brief in the time allowed given the magnitude of the task, the workload and limited staffing of the undersigned, Mr. Mumma's report that he was unavailable for medical reasons and the circumstances set forth in a contemporaneous (October 29, 2013) Petition of the undersigned. 12. Only the Trustee, Lisa Morgan, objected to the requested adjournment, objecting to "further delay" but suggesting no particular prejudice that would occur thereby. 13. It was not reasonable to expect the completion of objections or briefs in the time allowed by this Court. It took nine years for the appointment of an auditor for the Audit Report to be submitted. Numerous extensions were allowed to the present Auditor (the undersigned has counted six in the docket since March of 2009). It is difficult, because of the number and sequence of accounts involved, to convert these � extensions into a single calculation of additional time given the Auditor, but the last hearing referred to in the Report was June 22, 2011—more than two years before the Report was finally issued. Based on that, Mr. Mumma's assertion (in the Client Brie� of 20 months of extensions allowed the Auditor is conservative. 14. Because of the time-span involved, and Mr. Mumma's pro se appearance before the Auditor, it was and is essential that he be involved in the preparation of the brief and have the time, himself, to retrieve information from a record that, using the dates of the hearings in the Auditor's Report, covered over 40 days and includes 4 � conducted over four years ago. Accomplishing this was already impracticable, but became impossible in the last two weeks. 15. Given the additional details now disclosed—including the fact that Mr. Mumma is believed to be hospitalized for a serious medical condition and will still be in the hospital on November 12, it is submitted that the argument of November 12 must be adj ourned. 16. Separately, it is submitted that the pendency of appeals concerning interim reports of the same Auditor and presenting issue in common and inextricably intertwined with the issues presented in the Auditor's Report of August 7, 2013, divests this Court of jurisdiction to proceed on the Objections at this time, a subject addressed in the Brief being submitted contemporaneously on the Objections and this Motion. WHEREFORE, it is respectfully requested that this Court reconsider its November 1, 2013 Order and enter and Order further adjou 'ng the briefing and argument of the Objections. Dated: November 7, 2013 Robert B. re, Esquire Foehl yre, P.C. 27 Ea Front Street Media, PA 19063 610-566-5926 Attorneys for Robert M. Mumma, II 5 � CERTIFICATE AND PROOF OF SERVICE I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing Motion has been served by first-class United States mail, postage prepaid, and via email, this 7t" day of October, 2013, on the following: Ivo V. Otto, IV, Esquire George B. Faller, Esquire Jennifer L. Spears, Esquire Martson Law Offices 10 East High Street Carlisle, PA 17013 Brady L. Green, Esquire Wilbraham Lawler& Buba 31 S` Floor 1818 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 Richard F. Rinaldo Williams Coulson, LLC 16th Floor, One Gateway Center Pittsburgh, PA 15222 Ms. Linda M. Mumma, P.O. Box 30436 Bethesda, MD 20824 Robert M. Mumma, II Box F Grantham, PA 17027 � Robert B. Ey Counsel f obert M. Mumma, II 6