HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-05-05 Volume I
INDEX TO WITNESSES
FOR PETITIONER DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS
Elizabeth Coolidge-Stolz 8 45 57
Helen Kollas 63 81
Robert M. Frey 86 104 115
J. Craig Jurgensen, M.D. 119 129
Herbert E. Myers, M.D. 134 149 151
Joseph F. Brazel, M. D., 153 165 166
Robert Wettstein, M.D. ,
on qualifications 169 174
Robert Wettstein, M.D. 175 184
FOR RESPONDENTS
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INDEX TO EXHIBITS
FOR PETITIONER MARKED ADMITTED
Ex. No. 1 - phone bills 4 14
Ex. No. 2 - phone log 4 14
Ex. No. 3 - phone log 4 14
Ex. No. 4 - will dated 12/8/03 101 118
Ex. No. S - will dated 10/24/01 117 117
Ex. No. 6 - codocil dated 10/26/02 117 117
Ex. No. 7 - letter dated 4/30/03 167 197
Ex. No. 8 - 2 pages of Dr. Brazel's
report 167 197
Ex. No. 9 - Dr. Wettstein's
cirriculum vitae 171 171
Ex. No. 10 - Dr. Wettstein's report 177 197
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(Whereupon, Petitioner's Exhibits 1, 2, and 3
were marked for identification.)
THE COURT: This is the time and place for a
hearing in the matter of Eleanor U. Coolidge, deceased, at
No. 21-03-936 Orphans' Court, which has been consolidated
with the case at No. 21-04-301 Orphans' Court. We will let
the record indicate that the attorneys are present
representing their respective counsel, and I will ask them
to put their names on the record, as well as the parties
that they represent. Mr. Thomas, why don't you go first?
MR. THOMAS: Okay. My name is R. Mark
Thomas. I represent the Petitioner in this matter, Julia
Elizabeth Coolidge-Stolz.
THE COURT: All right.
MR. FLOWER: Your Honor, my name is James D.
Flower, Jr., and I represent the Respondents, Philip
Coolidge and Thomas Coolidge.
THE COURT: All right.
MR. FLOWER: And I would note that Mr. Robert
Frey is here in the capacity as the attorney of the estate.
MR. FREY: Correct.
THE COURT: Very good. And that would be
Robert M. Frey, Esquire.
MR. FLOWER: Yes, sir.
THE COURT:
All right.
Mr. Thomas, do you
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1 want to very briefly state what your position is and what
2 relief you're requesting, and then I'll ask Mr. Flower and
3 Mr. Frey to do the same.
4 MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, the Petitioner's
5 position in this matter is that for many years prior to
6 December 8, 2003, Eleanor Coolidge, the deceased, had been
7 involved in testamentary plans that had always treated her
8 three children, namely Philip Coolidge, Tom Coolidge, and
9 Elizabeth -- Julia Elizabeth Coolidge equally.
10 On December 8, 2003, after having been in a
11 nursing home for approximately 1 year, and during that time
12 having suffered from a degenerative brain disease, the onset
13 of which preceded her admission into the nursing home, it's
14 our position that on December the 8th, 2003, when she
15 executed a certain writing which has been probated as her
16 last will and testament, that she lacked testamentary
17 capacity to execute that will or in the alternative that she
18 had been susceptible and subjected to undue influence, and
19 the reason for that is, one, the degenerative brain disease
20 that she suffered from, otherwise known as dementia, and the
21 fact that for no reason that we consider to be valid, she
22 removed Julia Elizabeth Coolidge-Stolz from her testamentary
23 plan, and then she died just 3 months later. So it's our
24 position that she was either lacking testamentary capacity
25 or she had been unduly influenced in the execution of a
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1 testamentary plan that disinherited her daughter.
2 THE COURT: All right. Very good. Thank
3 you. Mr. Flower.
4 MR. FLOWER: Your Honor, what counsel says is
5 partially true. It is true that until this last will all of
6 the three children of Mrs. Coolidge would have received
7 equal benefit under her previous wills, not as outright
8 beneficiaries who would receive cash, but as lifetime income
9 beneficiaries. What each would have received would be the
10 income of a third of her assets generated for that lifetime,
11 and Mr. Frey will give us an exact number, but my impression
12 is that those assets total something around 1.2 to 1.4
13 million, and he'll have to give you the exact figure. And
14 in the change that Mrs. Coolidge made, what she did is she
15 took her daughter out, and my clients then became -- instead
16 of one-third income beneficiaries for life, they became
17 one-half income beneficiaries for life, which is an increase
18 of one-sixth of the income from that trust for life.
19 And it is true that although the testimony
20 will show that over many decades Ms. Coolidge-Stolz had a
21 severely strained relationship with her parents, it lS true
22 that until November 17, I believe it was, of 2003, she
23 maintained that, but she was so mortified and outraged that
24 her daughter would petition for her to be declared an
25 incompetent and declared no longer mentally sound and
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1 dragged into court to answer to that, that on the way home
2 from that court proceeding she said, she's out of the will.
3 And you will hear that she maintained that desire through a
4 period of time when she worked with Mr. Frey to amend her
5 will, and finally did amend her will on December 8, 2003,
6 about 21 days after that hearing.
7 The reason that the change in the amount that
8 the beneficiary is to receive is important is that under the
9 undue influence test there are three legs that have to be
10 maintained by the Petitioner, and if anyone of those legs
11 fail they cannot establish undue influence, and in this case
12 the case law concerning the substantial benefit which must
13 be received by the individual accused of the undue influence
14 does not support finding substantial benefit wher~ the
15 incremental amount received under the estate is so small.
16 So under the undue influence, we believe that
17 you can find as a matter of law that that test cannot be
18 met, and we also believe that the testimony presented will
19 establish that Mrs. Coolidge had testamentary capacity on
20 December 8, 2003. We'll have the testimony of Mr. Frey,
21 we'll have the testimony of a psychiatrist who was present,
22 Dr. Herbert Myers, and you will also hear testimony by
23 videotape deposition of Dr. Brazel, her family physician,
24 that almost every time he met with her over a period of
25 decades, that Mrs. Coolidge would complain about the
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relationship with her daughter.
So in summary we believe you will find that
there was testamentary capacity, and also that there was no
undue influence in this case.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Frey, did you
want to say anything on behalf of the estate at this point?
MR. FREY: I don't think there's anything to
present that isn't already on the record relative to the
size of the will that was written on December 8th.
All right. Very good. Thank
THE COURT:
you. Mr. Thomas.
MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, at this time I would
call Julia Elizabeth Coolidge-Stolz to the witness stand.
Whereupon,
JULIA ELIZABETH COOLIDGE-STOLZ
having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Would you state your name for the record, and
spell your last name?
A Julia Elizabeth Coolidge-Stolz, and that's
C-o-o-l-i-d-g-e--S-t-o-l-z.
Q And do you mind if I call you Julia?
A That's fine.
Q Julia, where do you live?
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A 2 Gillis Drive, North Reading, Massachusetts.
That's just north of Boston.
Okay. And who do you live with at that
Q
location?
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the house.
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was your
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yet?
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that year.
Q
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My husband and my son.
And how old is your son?
He'll be 10 on March 18th.
How long have you lived in Massachusetts?
We moved to Massachusetts in 1983.
Are you employed outside the home?
Not at this time.
Are you employed in any fashion?
Yes. I'm self employed, but I work out of
And what is your employment?
I work as a medical writer.
And you said you were self employed. What
do you know what your gross income was for 2004?
$45,000, give or take a thousand.
And have you paid income tax on that income
No. I don't have all the tax documents for
Is your husband employed?
Yes, he is.
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Q Where does he work?
A He works for Raytheon Company, which is a
defense manufacturer.
Q Okay. And what is his approximate annual
income?
A I'll say eighty to eighty-five thousand, give
or take a few.
Q Is that his gross income?
A Yes.
Q Now, while you've been living in
Massachusetts, have you been able to maintain a relationship
with both of your parents prior to your father's death?
A Yes.
Q And since your father's death, have you
maintained a relationship with your mother?
A I had a regular relationship with her until
she went into Green Ridge.
THE COURT: What is the date of your father's
death?
THE WITNESS: July 14th, 2001.
THE COURT: And what was the date that your
mother went into Green Ridge Nursing Home?
THE WITNESS: I think it was the very
beginning of December of 2002, but I don't know the exact
date.
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THE COURT: Okay. Thank you.
THE WITNESS: Sure.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q During the time even prior to your father's
death and after his death, was there any situation that made
it difficult for you to visit in person with your parents?
A Yes.
Q What was that situation?
A Well, we went down virtually every three day
weekend for a number of trips until we had a baby in 1995,
and when Joseph was two it became apparent that he had major
medical issues, and it became much more difficult to go down
after that.
Q Are you able to just pack up and grab Joseph
and make a trip from Massachusetts down here to
Pennsylvania?
A No.
Q Why not?
A One of Joseph's problems is a severe anxiety,
and in order to keep him structured enough to be stable,
that is not to become agitated enough to rip at his clothing
or to try to hurt himself or somebody else, we actually have
all of his days blocked off in ten minute increments so that
he can follow exactly what's going to happen, and if you
deviate in any way from that, he gets very upset.
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So in order to make a trip with him, I would
probably start previewing that a week in advance every day
on the calendar showing him there's one day less until we
were going to make the trip, and that's how you have to do
it. So you have to have that much time to get him ready.
Q When you travel with him in the car, can one
adult drive with him in the car?
A No. When we travel with him or when he's on
the school bus, there has to be somebody to drive and
somebody to give him one to one attention.
Q Is he receiving treatment for his condition?
A Yes.
Q So how did you maintain regular contact with
your parents after Joseph was born?
A Well, I had always called every Sunday night,
and I continued to call every Sunday night.
Q Even after your father died?
A I called more often after my father died.
Q I want to show you what I've had marked as
Petitioner's Exhibit Number 1. Can you identify that
exhibit?
A Sure. They're monthly statements for our
phone bills.
Q And did you go through these -- well, what
period of time do these phone bills cover?
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A From, it looks like, December 2001 to
mid-year 2003.
Q Okay. Did you go through those telephone
bills and summarize the telephone calls that you made to
your mother?
A Yes, I did.
Q I want to show you what I've had marked as
Petitioner's Exhibit Number 2. Can you identify that
exhibit?
A Yes. That's the keyboard version of the log
that I gave you listing dates and minute durations of calls.
Q All right. And what is reflected on that
exhibit?
A A series of calls from December 2001 on our
home phone, and on my cell phone
Q Well, that particular exhibit, does that just
contain the home telephones?
A Oh, just give me a second. Actually it's
marked land phone.
Q Okay. And I want to show you Petitioner's
Exhibit Number 3, and what telephone calls are recorded on
that exhibit?
A Okay. That's marked cell phone, and they're
calls from February 2003 to July 2003.
Q All right.
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1 MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, I'd move for the
2 admission of Defendant's Exhibits 1 and 2.
3 THE COURT: Petitioner's Exhibits?
4 MR. THOMAS: Petitioner's Exhibits, yes.
5 Petitioner's Exhibits I, 2, and 3, Your Honor.
6 THE COURT: All right. Mr. Flower.
7 MR. FLOWER: Well, we haven't heard the
8 testimony on them. We don't know whether they're
9 objectionable or not, Your Honor. I would object to the
10 admission of them until we've heard testimony concerning
11 them.
12 THE COURT: All right. And, Mr. Frey, do you
13 have a position on that request that these items be
14 admitted?
15 MR. FREY: I have no knowledge of the
16 telephone calls or their content, Your Honor. I have no
17 position on their admission other than I question what they
18 show other than that a communication occurred.
19 THE COURT: All right. Petitioner's Exhibits
20 I, 2, and 3 are admitted.
21 (Whereupon, Petitioner's Exhibits I, 2, and 3
22 were admitted into evidence.)
23 BY MR. THOMAS:
24 Q Okay. Julia, taking a look at Petitioner's
25 Exhibit Number 2 titled land phone.
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A Yes.
Q There on the left column where we have dates,
what do those dates actually represent?
A The date of the phone call.
Q And who would have placed the phone call?
A I would have.
Q And the phone calls were placed to whom?
A Unless it's specified otherwise, it was my
mother' home phone.
Q And the duration column over on the left,
what does that indicate?
A According to this telephone charge, that was
the duration of the call.
Q Now, if we look from December 2001 up through
December 2002, prior to your mother's admission into the
nursing home, how many times on average are you calling your
mother in a monthly basis?
A It's about five or SlX.
Q And how long are those conversations?
A Roughly 20 minutes to 30 minutes.
Q Okay. Could you describe for the Court the
character of those conversations that you had with your
mother over the telephone?
A Sure. I usually started out with saying how
are you and what are you doing.
She would ask how we were
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doing, and specifically how Joseph was. And then I would
ask her how she was doing with her depression and when did
she want me to call again. Because we had made an agreement
that -- she wanted me not to call more than once a week
because it was expensive, but then she said maybe if I
called twice a week it would help her get through the week
more easily. So I would always say when do you want me to
call you next.
Q All right. Now, the conversations, were they
unpleasant or pleasant? How would you characterize them?
A Very warm and very candid.
Q Who paid for the telephone calls?
A I did.
Q That you made?
A We did.
Q When you say we, who do you mean?
A My husband and I.
Q Okay. Did your mother ever pay for the phone
calls?
A Not directly. She would send notes and
checks to help reimburse them.
Q And the notes and checks that she sent
indicated that these were to help pay for the phone bills?
A Yes.
Q Now, do you recall your mother at times
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having to go into the hospital down at Chambersburg?
A Yes.
Q During the year 2002?
A Yes.
Q And if you look at Exhibit Number 2 down near
the bottom where we see some phone calls made to the
Chambersburg Hospital?
A Urn-hum, yes. From the 14th through the 18th
of February.
Q And so you maintained contact with her even
though she was in the hospital?
A Yes.
THE COURT: And what was she in the hospital
for at that time?
THE WITNESS: Depression and suicidal
ideations.
THE COURT: Okay.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q And then on page 2 of Exhibit Number 2 we see
other calls to the Chambersburg Hospital in July?
A Yes.
Q What was she admitted to the hospital for in
July of 2002?
A The same thing. It was the psychiatric unit
because she decompensated and felt suicidal.
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Q And then again if we look on page 3 we see
the Chambersburg Hospital again in November and early
December 2002?
A Yes.
Q What was she admitted to the hospital for at
that time?
A The same thing, depression decompensation and
suicidal ideation.
Q Now, where did your mother go following her
discharge from the Chambersburg Hospital in November or
December of 2002?
A She went directly to be admitted to the
assisted living facility at Green Ridge Village.
THE COURT: I'm sorry. I'm having a lot of
trouble hearing you because the sound system is so poor.
You said she went directly somewhere.
THE WITNESS: She went directly to be
admitted to the assisted living center at Green Ridge
Village.
THE COURT: And that's located where?
THE WITNESS: Newville, I think.
THE COURT: Newville, Cumberland County,
Pennsylvania?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Thomas.
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BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Did anyone -- prior to her admission into the
Green Ridge Village Nursing Home in Newville, did anyone
from your family contact you?
A Yes.
Q To participate in that decision?
A
Not to participate.
It was already made, but
he called to inform me.
Q Okay. Now, did you continue to maintain
telephone contact with your mother after she entered the
Green Ridge Village Nursing Home?
A Yes. On roughly the same schedule.
Q Now, if you look at the telephone calls after
December 3, 2002, what do you see as the most significant
difference?
A They got much shorter.
Q And why did the telephone calls get much
shorter?
A Because instead of speaking spontaneously you
would have to ask her a question and then she would give you
a short answer but not say anything more because in an
increasing number of calls she was confused, and so you
would just end up saying I love you, mom, and she would say
I love you, and then I would hang up.
Q So is it your testimony then that you were
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unable to carryon a meaningful conversation with her?
A Yes. That's the best summary.
Q Did she ever demonstrate any confusion with
regard to who you were when you talked to her on the
telephone?
A Not -- I mean I would have to -- it got to
the point where I would have to say this is Julia, I'm your
daughter, but once I would do that I thought she knew. If I
just called and said this is Julia after about January, that
wasn't enough to get a response.
Q After January?
A Of the next year. It would be 2003.
Q 2003. Did she ever demonstrate any confusion
in these conversations regarding your son and husband?
A Yes. She would get confused over who was
who.
Q If we look at January 12, 2003 -- make that
January 26, 2003, how long a phone conversation did you have
with your mother at that time?
A I'm not on that page yet. Give me a second.
January what?
Q 26th.
A Well, that one was 17 minutes.
Q Okay. After that, all the way through June
15, 2003, what is the longest conversation you have with
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your mother from that time, between those two dates?
A It looks like 9 minutes.
Q And the cell phone records, Exhibit Number 3,
without getting into detail, do they follow the same pattern
that we just discussed with regard to the land phone
records?
A Yes.
Q Did you become concerned at all during that
time about your mother's condition?
A Yes, I did. Very.
Q Who did you talk to about your concerns?
A Tom.
Q Tom being who?
A I'm sorry. My brother who lived in Carlisle.
Q Tom Coolidge?
A Yes.
Q Did you express to him in your conversations
about your concern?
A Yes.
Q What did you tell him?
A In December and January just that she seemed
confused on where she was, and if it were a hospital if she
were going to get out, and I asked him if, based on what the
Green Ridge folks were telling him, they thought she would
be making the transition shortly to be more aware of where
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she was and more secure of it, and he indicated they thought
she was doing fine.
Q Did you ever express enough concern that you
told Tom you were thinking about coming down to visit your
mother?
A Virtually every call from January on either
had me asking should I come down or he would tell me you
don't need to come down, things are fine, before I would
ask.
Q Well, when you would ask, what would his
reply be?
A He said things are really fine. You don't
need to come down, don't.
MR. FLOWER: Can we ask for a date or some
approximation of time when this conversation allegedly took
place?
THE COURT: Mr. Thomas.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q These -- I believe you testified that this
was the same conversation that you had practically every
telephone call after January?
A Yeah. If you look at the telephone calls
placed to Tom's home telephone number.
Q Okay. So the dates would be reflected on the
dates --
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A -- on the phone bills, yes.
Q Okay. When did you finally make your first
visit with your mother?
A In the end of June, 2003.
THE COURT:
Let's see, did you say the end
of June?
THE WITNESS: It was either literally the
last day of June, June 30th, or the first or second day of
July. I'm not sure which.
THE COURT:
THE WITNESS:
Of 2003; is that right?
I think so. Can you just
give me a second to figure out the years.
have to be.
Yes, it would
THE COURT: All right. June of 2003 you
visited at Green Ridge.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q If the hospital records the Green Ridge
records would indicate that that visit it was actually on
July 2, 2003, would you disagree with that?
A No.
Q Okay.
A I just don't remember exactly which day we
drove down and which day I went out.
Q When you arrived at Green Ridge Village on
July 2, 2003, were you able to visit with your mother?
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A Yes.
Q About what time did you arrive during the
day?
A It was late morning, and I don't remember
more specifically than that.
Q Can you describe your mother when you first
saw her?
A I went into her room, which was a single
room. She was in a lounge-type chair. She was working with
a therapist who was helping her move her arms up and down,
and she looked at me and said to the therapist, and who is
that? And the therapist looked at me, and sort of with a
question mark, and I said, mom, it's Julia.
Q When you said that, did she then recognize
you?
A
She smiled and looked at me for a
Yes.
second, and then she said, you cut your hair, and I said,
yeah, I did, and she said, you've lost weight, and I said,
yeah, I have.
Q After the therapist left, did you then have a
one-on-one visit with your mother?
A Yes, I did.
Q How long did that visit last?
A Probably an hour or a little bit more.
Q And how would you characterize that visit
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that you had with your mother in terms of the relationship
between the two of you?
A It oscillated between periods where it was
pleasant, but she was relatively confused, and periods where
we had meaningful conversation, and those were close and
fine.
Q Did she at any time during that visit tell
you that she did not want you to be there?
A No.
Q During that visit did any people, staff
persons from Green Ridge Village, come into the room?
A Yes.
Q Do you recall specifically who came in?
A Well, I know Renee Kreamer came in. That's
who was the nurse manager of the unit, and who I talked to
on the phone before, and in the course of the time I was
there, there were other either nurses or nurses aides who
came in and out, and they all would, you know, pleasantly
say hello and then leave.
Q Did Nurse Kreamer during that visit say
anything to you that caused you concern about your mother's
condition?
A There were several things that made me
uneasy.
Q Did she say anything about your mother having
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a new nurse?
A She said mother -- her characterization of
mother was that when she first carne to the home she seemed
mentally very limited in being able to participate, but
physically could do everything that she needed to do for
herself, and that she had swung to a period where they had
structured her living, and she was -- was better, and then
she had sort of begun to show more signs of failing
physically and mentally, and, yes, her example of that was
that just the week previous to when I had carne down, mother
had been telling people that there was a new nurse with red
hair who was really nice and was going to take her for a
visit in California, and that was in response to my saying
that mother had been confused about me and who was I was,
and then she remembered who I was, but she didn't know where
she was. She asked me what hospital she was in, and I said,
it's not a hospital. You're in an assisted living center,
and it's Green Ridge Village.
Q Now, at the end of that visit, was there any
discussion about you corning back the next day on July the
3rd?
A Yeah. We had a very nice conversation at the
end, and the agreement was that I would corne back and I
would try to corne back after what would be morn's breakfast
time, which was around 8:30, and that I was going to stay
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and share lunch with her because it was their celebration of
July the 4th for the people would lived there, and then I
would leave.
Q Was there any conversation at that time about
your morn's willingness to go outside?
A Yes. In a sort of nice way, we don't quite
understand why -- Renee Kreamer said that, you know, they
were going to have a picnic, but she said, you know, your
morn doesn't like to go outside, and I thought it was clear
she didn't understand why my mother didn't like to eat
outside.
Q Did you then tell her why your mother is
hesitant to go outside?
A Yeah. I said she went into shock from a bee
sting, and they had to resuscitate her in the hospital when
I was a little girl, and after that we never had picnics
outside anymore because she had the yellow jacket sting.
THE COURT: I'm sorry. I just didn't catch
that. Your mother had a what?
THE WITNESS: She had a reaction to a bee
sting where she nearly died.
THE COURT:
THE WITNESS:
Oh, I see.
And we had to take her to the
hospital emergency room and resuscitate her.
THE COURT: Okay.
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THE WITNESS: And she was phobic about eating
outside after that because of the bees.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Was the staff at Green Ridge Village aware of
that prior to you're telling them?
A No. She seemed surprised, and then she said
very nicely that she was glad she knew because she would
make sure it had gone into the record.
Q All right. When you left, how was the
relationship between you and your mother at that time?
A Actually it was fine. She was excited I was
coming back, and I was excited I was coming back.
Q About what time did you leave, approximately?
A Early afternoon. Probably 1 or 1:30, I
think.
Q Did you return then on July 3rd, 2003?
A Yes. I went back the next day as planned.
Q And what time did you arrive on July the 3rd?
A Actually it was almost exactly 8:30, I think,
give or take 5 or 10 minutes.
Q And when you walked into your mother's room,
what did you see?
A She was sitting in the same lounge chair.
Tom was in the room and bending over very close to her. He
was holding what looked like a small cell phone or a
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recorder in his hand. He was whispering and speaking softly
to her. She was pulling at the coverlet on her lap and
looked agitated and frightened, and when she turned and saw
me she had tears in her eyes.
Q Were you angry at Tom at that point?
A Yes, I was.
Q How did you address him?
A I said, you son of a bitch, to be willing to
terrify your own mother.
MR. FLOWER: Could that be repeated? I
didn't quite catch that.
THE COURT: Would you repeat what you said?
THE WITNESS: I said, you son of a bitch, to
be willing to terrify your own mother.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Now, was that just because you saw him
hovering over her with what you thought was a cell phone
that you said that to him?
A No, that was based on what she had said to me
the previous day, plus seeing him in there hovering over her
with that.
Q What did she say to you the previous day when
you had been visiting with her?
A Well, after she realized who I was, you know,
we talked for a couple of minutes and it was fine, and then
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I said I brought you presents, and when I started to get
them out of the bag and I looked up, she sort of had a vague
expression, and then she monotonously said, no press
charges, no press charges. Your father would be ashamed.
No press charges.
Q Do you know what she was talking about?
A No. I said, mother, what in the world are
you talking about?
Q What did she say?
A Actually she just looked confused and
repeated it. And then she got out the word clock, and then
she looked confused and she said, Tom said the clock. And I
said, mom, do you know what clock you're talking about?
And she said no. And I said, we're talking about the banjo
clock.
Q What did you say to try to put her at ease?
A Well, after I said that, she got a more alert
expression, and she said -- in normal cadence and rhythm she
said, well, what are you talking about? You were supposed
to get that clock. And I said, yes, mom, that's the point,
and now Tom has it, but it's his problem and my problem and
I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to know, and I
will deal with him about it. It's not your problem.
Q Okay. So after having had that conversation
and then walking in the next morning and seeing him
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whispering to her, lS that why you addressed him the way you
did?
A Well, yeah, because she was all shriveled up
and crying, and the first thing she said to me was I think I
said something about you that wasn't true and I got you in
trouble.
Q How long -- well, did Tom allow you then to
visit with your mother?
A No.
Q What did he tell you?
A He said that he was aware that there was a
security threat that my mother might have been kidnaped, and
so he was going to stay in the room and I would not be
allowed to speak with her privately.
Q Did you know what he was talking about when
he said that your mom might be kidnapped at that time?
A No. I was stunned.
Q How long were you and Tom and your mother in
the room together?
A Well, it was a couple of minutes, and then he
got a very brief phone call on his cell phone.
Q Tell us about that phone call, what you could
hear Tom saying?
A Well, the phone rang and he said, Jim. Jim
with a question mark, and then he said, yes, she's here.
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Yes, I'm with my mother. No, she won't be allowed to be
alone with my mother. And then something about either yes
the authorities know or yes the home knows. It was
something about somebody knowing. And then I think that was
the end of the phone call.
Q And how long were you, Torn, and your mother
together ln your mother's room before your mother left?
A I would guess not more than 10 to 15 minutes.
Q And how did your mother leave?
A Two nurses carne in and said in a nice way,
excuse us, and they said, would it be okay if we take your
mother now to help her get bathed and dressed, and we said,
sure, and then they took morn in a wheelchair.
Q And then you and Torn remained in the room?
A Yes.
Q Did you have a conversation with Torn while it
was just the two of you in the room?
A Yes.
Q What was that conversation?
A He was sitting on mother's bed and stayed
I sat ln a chair because I had been sitting on the
there.
floor to be close to mom when she was in the chair, and he
said, well, I guess you think we're going to have to say
something now or we have something to talk about now. And I
was trying not to cry, and I said, I just can't figure out
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what happened that we've gotten here, and he just shrugged
and then he said, I've made a number of changes, most of
them minor, and I've worked very carefully with Bob Frey in
all of this, and there's nothing you're going to be able to
do to legally overturn any of it.
And I said, but you had no right to do
anything. You never should have seen mother's personal
bequest to know about the clock, and you lied to me, and I
don't understand what's going on. And then he just shrugged
and said sort of smugly that he had taken care of things and
he said everybody in the home knows me now. He said, nobody
will believe you. And then I cried and I left.
Q Did you attempt to telephone your mother
after that visit? You can look at your phone logs there.
A Give me just a minute. I'm sorry. Actually
I don't see anything after 7/2003.
Q When is the next time that you came from
Massachusetts to visit with your mother?
A In October of that year.
Q And when you went to visit with your mother
in October, did anyone accompany you?
A Yes.
Q Who was it that accompanied you?
A Helen Kollas, who had been mom's closest
friend.
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Q When you arrived at the Green Ridge Village
Nursing Home on that day, did anybody try to stop you, any
staff people, from going to visit your mother?
A We didn't see anybody in the hall. We just
walked in, but no.
Q Okay. And when you say you walked in, you
mean walked into your mother's room?
A Urn-hum.
Q Was your mother there when the two of you
walked in?
A Yeah, she was in the same lounge chair.
Q Describe your mother's condition at that time
when you saw her in October.
A Hunched over and picking at the coverlet, but
much more passive than in July when she was really agitated,
and then she looked up and she looked at me and I didn't
think she had immediate recognition. She looked at Helen
and smiled because she clearly did recognize Helen, and then
she looked back at me, and said, oh, you're not allowed to
be here. You're not supposed to be here.
Q What were her -- describe her face and what
she was doing when she was saying that.
A She was -- she didn't look angry and she
didn't look happy. She looked agitated, if not a little bit
frightened. And her hands kept moving restlessly, and I
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said, mom, I've come, and I've brought you a present, and I
want to open it, and if you want me to leave right after
that I will, there won't be any problem. And then she said
that she didn't want the nurses to know that we were there
because she would get in trouble.
Q Did she bring Tom into that conversation at
all about
A Yeah, she said Tom had told her that if she
saw me she would get so sick on her stomach that he would
take her to a hospital and leave her there.
THE COURT: She was what?
THE WITNESS: She said that
THE COURT: Tom said --
THE WITNESS: She said Tom said I would get
so sick on my stomach -- I would get so sick on my stomach
he would take me to a hospital and leave me there. So the
nurses shouldn't know you're here.
THE COURT: Okay.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Okay.
A And then she said something about sick on the
stomach, and I thought she meant she actually did feel
nauseated.
Q So what did you say to her?
A Well, I said, do you want me to go and get a
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nurse so they can get you something, and then she was calm
for a second and she looked at me sort of like I was stupid
and said, no, because they'll tell Tom you're here.
Q How long did you and Helen and your mother
stay together at that time when you first entered?
A Just long enough for me to get out the cross
that I had bought her and to read the bible verses that were
engraved on it, and she kept looking out the door and
looking nervous, and then I said, why don't I take a walk
and you can talk to Helen and then either I can take Helen
and we'll just go or we can visit if you want to visit with
me, but I'll leave you alone.
Q All right. And did you leave the room then
so she could visit with Helen?
A Yes.
Q How long did you stay away from the room?
A I gave them twenty minutes.
Q When you came back into the room, how was
your mother?
A She was much calmer and sitting in the chair.
Helen was sitting on the floor holding her hand, and Helen
was saying something about but, Eleanor, that's not the way
families work, my brother would never do that to me.
Q Did you have a conversation with your mother
after you returned?
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A
Q
Yes. She was quieter and calmer.
What did you talk about?
A Primarily what she said, and she said it
three times, that she wasn't happy there, that she never saw
anybody but Tom. She really wanted to go back to Carlisle.
She really wanted to go back to Carlisle. She wanted to be
in Thornwald, and she mentioned Thornwald three times.
THE COURT: And for the record, what is
Thornwald?
THE WITNESS: It's a home in Carlisle, a
nursing home centered in Carlisle.
THE COURT: Thank you.
THE WITNESS: Sure.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Was your -- did your mother grow up in
Carlisle?
A Yes. Her family had been here since about
the time of the revolutionary war, and yes, she was born and
lived here all of her life.
Q And after she was married your parents lived
here -- and when I say in Carlisle, I mean in the Borough.
A Actually -- well, daddy got his Masters
degree in
Q I don't want to go off on a tangent.
A As soon as his education was completed and
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they had a permanent home, yes, it was here in the Borough
of Carlisle on Conway Street.
THE COURT: And for the record, how far is
Newville from Carlisle?
THE WITNESS: Well, when I drove it it was
about 20 minutes. You can either go Route 11 or 1-81, but
they're about the same time.
THE COURT: In miles how far is it?
THE WITNESS: I have no clue. I'm sorry.
THE COURT: Okay.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q How old was your mother when she was at Green
Ridge?
A Well, she was born in August of 1928, and she
went out there in December of 2002. How old would she be?
Q Was she over 70?
A Yes. Thank you.
Q How old were most of her friends?
A The two friends she had at the time that she
was closest with were Mrs. Schweider (phonetic), who
probably was about 80, and Helen Kollas, who was about 70.
Q Okay. All right. So she's telling you that
she wants to go to Thornwald, which was located in the
Borough of Carlisle. What's your reaction to that?
A My first -- I mean I wasn't surprised at all
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she said she wanted --
Q I didn't ask you that. What did you respond
to her?
A Oh, I said if you want to go to Thornwald,
mom, I'll try to get you to Thornwald.
Q Okay. And where did the conversation go from
there?
A Well, what she said is that Tom had all of
her money and he controlled all of her money and she
couldn't do anything, and I did say, mom, he's paying your
bills, but, you know, he's not spending your money, and she
said, he has all of my money, I can't do anything. And then
she said, and he's going to sell all of my things and he'll
have all of my money.
And I asked her if she wanted her things
sold, and she said, no, she wanted -- or at least she wanted
to have time to think about it, and then she was frightened
and said she was losing everything. And she did say
specifically about Tom, he sits on the bed, and he pressures
me and he pressures me and he pressures me, and he says ugly
things about Julia, and I get so mixed up. And then I
promised her three things.
Q And what were they?
A That I would try to get her into Thornwald,
that I would try to get her into a living situation where
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she wasn't afraid, because she said she was afraid of Tom,
and that I would try to find her somebody independent who
owed nothing to anybody except her to run her affairs.
Q And did you offer to have someone come out
and see her?
A I said, if we could get somebody of authority
to come out and see you, mom, would you would feel better,
and then you can tell them what you want, and she said, oh,
yes, and she looked relieved. And then I was trying to
think who I could get, and I said, what about Bob Frey,
because he's your lawyer, and then she said, oh, yeah, Bob
Frey's my lawyer. She said, yeah, that would be good. And
then I said, okay, we'll try and talk to him and have him
come talk to you.
Q And then was that pretty much the end of the
visit?
A Well, she looked at Helen, and Helen said
that if mother -- would mother want Helen there if she was
going to talk to anybody, and mother said, yes, that she
would feel be better if Helen were there, and then we both
sort of looked at each and said, okay, then we'll take care
of trying to get him to come. And then I told her I loved
her very much and I wanted her to hold onto the cross
because it was a heavy rosin cross, and I said, it's a
tangible thing, and you can hold onto it and just remember
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that Jesus loves you, and then she looked up and she said,
do you remember that I hung a wooden cross over your bed the
whole time you were growing up, and I said, yes, mom, that
it's still there, because it's in the guest bedroom and my
old bed and the cross, it was still there. And then we
left.
Q And when you left, what condition was your
mother in when you actually closed the door and saw her the
last time?
A Well, we didn't close the door.
Q Okay. Well, as you walked --
A But as we walked out she looked relieved, and
I thought she looked happier.
Q Did you call Bob Frey's office then to
attempt to get him to go see your mother?
A No. In the van I asked Helen if she thought
we were doing the right thing, and she said yes, and then I
said I was going to be late getting back to Reading, which
was where Joseph was, and I said, would you feel comfortable
calling him, and she said, yes, she would feel comfortable
calling him, and I said, okay, thank you, and I dropped her
off and then I drove back.
Q All right. When is the next time that you
see your mother?
A The next day, for about a minute and a half.
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Q
And that visit consisted of -- who went with
you when you saw her that day?
A Jeffrey. He was able to go.
Q Jeffrey is?
A My husband.
Q And it was just a brief minute and a half?
A
Well, yeah.
I mean we had to get back for
Joseph, but we went down. The other reason it was so short
is she was in a wheelchair in street clothes and said she
was waiting for them to come and take her for a test.
Q
Okay.
Did you ever see your mother again
after that?
A Yes.
Q
When?
A I saw her in the courthouse here in November.
She did not see me, and I wasn't allowed to speak with her.
Q Who prevented you from speaking with your
mother at that time?
A Tom, Tom's lawyer Mr. Flower, and Mr. Frey
were standing around mother. One of them, and I'm not sure
which it was, walked up to my attorney and said that they
were afraid I would make a scene, and they wanted us to move
away right away so mother wouldn't see me and I wouldn't
have an opportunity to talk with mother, and he said, yeah,
sure, if you want us to move, fine, and we picked up and
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1 left, but I don't remember which one it was, to be honest.
2 Q Did you attempt to visit your mother again at
3 Green Ridge Village before you were here in court and
4 actually saw her?
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A
Q
Yes, but I didn't see her then.
When did you attempt to visit your mother
again?
A The courthouse thing I think was on a Monday,
and I think it was either a Wednesday or a Thursday morning
of the preceding week.
Q Well, how long was it after October 13th?
A Oh, roughly a month. It was in November.
Q When you arrived at the Green Ridge Village
in November, was your mother there?
A No.
Q Where was she?
A Well, I looked in the room and she wasn't
there, and Mrs. Kreamer was coming down the hall and she
said hi. She said, your mother's not here, she's with Tom,
they went for an appointment with Dr. Brazel, who was
mother's internist, and she said, if you come back late
morning around lunchtime, she'll be back. And so I said
thank you and I left.
Q And did you come back later that day?
A Around lunchtime, yes.
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Q
And what happened when you came back around
lunchtime?
A
Well, the door was closed to mother's room
and it never had been before, and there was a sign on it.
It said something to the extent of no visitors or visitors
must first report to the nurse's station, something like
that.
Q And did you follow the instructions on the
sign?
A
Yes.
I started to walk towards the nurse's
station, and Renee Kreamer was walking down the corridor,
and I said does this just mean they've got infection
precautions because I knew mother had a deep seated
infection, and I was afraid that's what it meant, with the
door closed, and she just said, I need to speak with you,
and she turned around and walked off and I followed her, and
we ended up in her office, and she told me, your mother
doesn't want to see you or speak with you, and Tom is in the
room with her and the door is closed. And then she said, if
I tried to go in the room she would call security. And I
said, you know, I was here this morning, I haven't seen my
mother since, what do you think I could have done in the
interim to make her mad at me.
Q I may have missed something there. Did
Mrs. Kreamer tell you if anyone was in the room with your
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mother when the slgn was on the door?
A She said Tom was in the room with my mother,
and that if I tried to open the door she would call
security.
MR. FLOWER: I may have missed this, Your
Honor. I didn't catch the date.
THE COURT: What date are we talking about?
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q If you know the precise date.
A I don't. It was, I think, the Wednesday or
Thursday preceding the Monday of the court hearing, but I
don't know the exact date. I would guess somewhere between
the 12th and the 14th of November, but I don't know.
MR. THOMAS: I have no further questions at
this time, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Flower.
CROSS EXAMINATION
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q Mrs. Coolidge-Stolz, it's your testimony that
through the years before your mother changed her will you
never had any significant arguments with her?
A I was never estranged from my parents. I
never stopped getting letters, calling Sundays, going home.
Significant argument? I honestly don't know how you define
that. I'm sorry. I had the closest emotional relationship
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1 of the three of us with my parents, which meant I had mostly
2 warm times, and yeah, there were probably more times that we
3 disagreed.
4 Q Were there any times where you had actually
5 explosive arguments with them?
6 A Not where there was any threat of violence,
7 and my mother never threatened to disinherit me or disown me
8 or do anything like that, no.
9 Q But there were arguments over the years?
A
Well, sure.
Everybody has arguments
sometimes.
Q
A
You graduated from Bryn Mawr college?
Yes, I did, in 1979.
Q And your parents traveled to the Philadelphia
area to attend that graduation?
A Yes, they did.
Q And then you had an argument with them, did
you not?
A No. What happened was that they came down
the day before -- and they didn't go to Tom or Bill's
college graduations because they were big universities and
far away. They came to mine because it was close, and it
was a smaller college, and so I d~dn't have a precedent on
how to set it up, but the way I set it up was that they were
going to stay in King of Prussia at the Stovers, which was
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the nicest hotel around, and then they were gOlng to see me
the next day where there was some kind of function, I forget
what. The graduation was actually the day after that, and
when I met them, mom was upset, and she said that there had
been people in the hotel who had been up for all hours and
who were drunk and noisy, and she was tired, and I should
have thought to put her in a quieter place, and I said, I
put you in the nicest place around here, and there aren't
that many, and she actually did get tearful and told daddy
she was really tired and she just wanted to go home, and he
took her home.
Q They left before the graduation?
A Yes. Because it wasn't that day.
Q And did they attend your graduation at the
Hershey Medical School?
A Yes, they did. They didn't go to dinner
afterwards, but they were at the graduation, both of them.
Q Now, your expert issued a report,
Dr. Wettstein, and in that report he made some reference to
you're telling him that your mom had been diagnosed as
bipolar. Did you tell him that?
A Yes.
Q Do you have the documents to support that
there was such a diagnosis?
A No. Mother told me that, and for a period of
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time I had the psychiatrist that she had seen ln the early
sixties, and she told him it was all right to tell me that.
So he told me personally, but I don't have it on paper.
Q Okay. You never saw it on paper. She just
mentioned that to you on an occasion?
A On more than one. Joseph has juvenile
bipolar, and so the subject carne up in the setting of his
illness.
Q Do you know who made the decision for your
mother to go to Green Ridge Village?
A Torn told me that he and Phil did, and mom
went along with it.
Q Isn't it true that your mother went to
several nursing homes herself sometimes with members of the
family and sometimes with others?
A I knew she had been to Todd Horne and Chapel
Point. Actually I think they're the only two that she told
me about, and that was in the summer of 2002. And she
didn't at that point anticipate moving imminently anywhere,
but yes, she had looked at some options.
Q And you don't think she was the one who made
the decision to go to Green Ridge Village?
A Tom told me that he and Phil made the
decision, but mother went along with it.
Q You understood that your mother had problems
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with her right hand after February 6th of 2003, when she had
a fall?
A Well, she had problems with both arms when I
4 saw her in July. My understanding was that there was an
incident in February where they found her sitting or lying
on the dining room floor, and the assumption was that she
had fallen. And I know from conversations with her
afterwards that she told me she had -- or she said she had a
weakness on the right side, had difficulty moving and
holding things in her right hand.
Q Okay. So my question was, were you aware she
had trouble with her right hand after that, and the answer
is yes, right?
A She told me that. I don't know if she did or
not.
Tom told me she was making it up.
Q That--
THE COURT:
THE WITNESS:
What date are we talking about?
We're talking about February
of 2003.
THE COURT:
All right. She had a fall in
that month?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: All right.
THE WITNESS: Roughly the middle of the
month, I think.
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1 BY MR. FLOWER:
2 Q Was she right handed or left handed?
3 A Right handed, I think.
4 Q So that would also make it more difficult for
her to have a long telephone call?
A Oh, she hadn't been able to pick up the phone
preceding that. You had to call when there was a nurse in
the room who could hand her the phone because she had
difficulty. That's why you find all the calls at the
nurse's station. It was to get somebody to go back to her
room and pick up the phone so I could talk with her, but
yes, you're right, after that it became one of the issues to
make it much harder to stay in touch.
Q On the occasion on July 3rd, 2003, you
testified that your first the first thing you said to
your brother was, you son of a bitch, to be willing to
terrify your own mother. That's the first thing you said,
right?
A Yes.
Q Okay.
A And I tried to say it in a very quiet voice
so that he would hear it but she wouldn't, and get even more
upset, but yes, that was the first thing I said.
Q You now know, do you not, that your mother
was concerned that she was going to be taken to a nursing
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home ln Massachusetts?
A I was told later that she had been agitated
and saying things to that effect in the morning. I would
assume, but I do not know, that that's what she meant when
she told me
when she told me, I think I said something
about you that wasn't true and got you in trouble.
Q And what did you take no press charges to
mean?
A At the time I didn't know because I had never
said anything to my mother about anything that would have
involved a legal matter. After that, when I eventually said
to mother, what in the world are you talking about, she got
around to saying the word clock, and that Torn had mentioned
a clock, and then I knew that he had spoken with her about
that matter.
Q Do you think in retrospect that she meant
don't get into litigation over family matters?
MR. THOMAS: Objection.
THE COURT: On what ground?
MR. THOMAS: He's asking my witness to draw a
conclusion as to what the declarant meant by what they said.
MR. FLOWER: Well, she knew the declarant
well. I think she's qualified to do that.
THE WITNESS: Actually she
THE COURT: The objection is sustained.
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1 BY MR. FLOWER:
2 Q You said that your brother said that there
3 had been a number of changes made?
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A
Yeah. I've had a number -- I have had a
number of changes made, most of them minor, was the phrase.
Q Most of them what?
A Minor.
Q Most of them minor. Okay. So at that time
you didn't know about what changes had been made?
A No, he didn't say. Obviously one of them was
the clock because he had told me about that, but he didn't
say what else he had done.
Q And he said that he worked closely with Bob
Frey?
A He said I've worked very closely with Bob
Frey on it, and we've been careful, and there's nothing you
can do legally to overturn it.
Q You're not suggesting that the will had
actually been changed by the time of that conversation, are
you?
MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, she didn't testify
to that. She testified only to what Tom told her. She's
not making any -- I object to the question.
THE COURT: Mr. Flower.
MR. FLOWER: I think it's a reasonable
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question on cross examination, Your Honor.
THE COURT:
All right. You may ask the
question.
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q You're not suggesting at this time that the
will was actually changed before -- at the time of that
conversation in July?
A Actually no. I didn't think he was talking
-- no. I didn't think he was talking about anything that
major at that point.
Q Ms. Coolidge-Stolz, you had supplied a letter
through your counsel that was from Dr. Price dated March
23rd, 2004, that was attached to I believe your initial
petition in these related cases. Do you recall that letter?
A It's actually -- if it's what I think it is,
it's actually addressed to Dr. Jurgensen, wasn't it?
THE COURT: It was actually what?
MR. FLOWER: Actually not.
MR. THOMAS: I would ask the witness --
THE COURT: It's so hard for me to hear. If
you would just speak right into that microphone and keep
your voice up.
THE WITNESS: The answer is I don't know what
document you're talking about. So you'll have to show me.
I'm sorry.
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BY MR. FLOWER:
Q This letter is of Dr. Price, who I think was
treating you?
A Yeah.
Q Okay. And it talks about having treated you
for 20 years for a condition?
A Actually it hadn't been 20 years, and I only
see him twice a year, but the answer is he has followed me.
Q Can you explain to us what that condition is?
A After I got my M.D. degree I went to Boston
to train in internal medicine and I had a head injury during
my internship year and began to have poorly defined but
severe headaches after that. He gave it a provisional
diagnosis of seizures and started me on a mild anti-seizure
medication. Whether it was that or not, I stopped having
the seizures years ago. So if it was due to the injury,
it's apparently healed.
Q Okay. You testified concerning the occasion
that you went to Green Ridge Village and you were told that
-- by Renee Kreamer that your mother doesn't want to see
you?
A Yes.
Q Tell us agaln how you affixed that point in
time in relation to the first hearing.
A It was before that.
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Q It was before the hearing on November 17,
2003?
A Yes.
Q
Okay.
And you said that it was -- what was
the date? How did you remember that?
A If my memory is correct, the hearing was on a
Monday, and I had come down roughly the middle of the
preceding week, and so I think it would have been the
Wednesday or Thursday of that week, but I'm not sure.
THE COURT: The Wednesday or Thursday of the
week before the hearing?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: All right.
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q And so we're very clear, that's the hearing
that was on November 17, 2003, the hearing for the petition
when you sought to have your mother declared incompetent?
A Yes, because that was the only way that I
could get somebody independent to look after her affairs
because Torn refused to entertain anything like that, and so
I had no option but to go to court.
Q So when you were refused a visit with your
mother, it was after she had been served with that petition
and knew she was going to court?
A No. My understanding was that she didn't
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know at that point. Well, Renee Kreamer didn't know at the
time she told me not to go in. So I'm assuming if she
didn't know -- I can't -- I never spoke to my mother. So I
don't know what she knew.
Q All right.
A But the nurse who ran the unit didn't know at
that point in time.
Q You're saying you don't know one way or the
other whether your mother had actually been served with
those papers as of that date?
A As of that -- yes. I think -- if I
understand your question correctly, the answer is yes.
Q All right. That becomes a little more
important to determine exactly what that date is. So you
think it was -- that the hearing was on November 17th, which
you recall was a Monday, and you think this visit was a
Wednesday; 1S that right?
A I said I don't know. I think it was the
Wednesday or Thursday of that week, but I don't have any
calendar or anything in front of me to help me remember.
Q The Wednesday or Thursday of the week before
the hearing?
A I said that.
MR. FLOWER: That's all I have, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey, any questions on behalf
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of the estate?
MR. FREY: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Thomas.
MR. THOMAS: Just briefly, Your Honor.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q When you went back to Green Ridge Village on
July the 3rd, and that was the date that
A Was that the second day?
Q You were there on July the 2nd.
A Okay. Yes.
Q Okay. Did you have a conversation with
Mrs. Kreamer from Green Ridge Village?
A Yes. I think in the course of the time I was
there I spoke with her at least twice.
Q Okay. And during the conversation with
Mrs. Kreamer, did this redhead nurse from California come up
again?
A She brought it up. She was trying --
Q Tell the Court the circumstances around that.
A In a kindly way after the issue had come up
of whether or not mother could have gotten it into her head
that I was going to take her with me, she said that she had
stopped the night before, before she went home, and mother
had appeared to be clear on what was going to happen, but
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when she came in the next morning mother was already
agitated and had told nurses that she thought that she would
be going with me, and then she said in a very nice way, your
mother gets confused sometimes, and she said about a week
ago she was telling everybody -- and she was all exited --
that the new nurse who had red hair was going to take her on
a trip to California, and she was excited about it. And so
she sort of said in a general way, you know, at this time
she thinks she's going somewhere and she's not excited about
it, but she gets confused sometimes.
Q Had she told you about the nurse with the red
hair on July 2nd when you had been there visiting with your
mom?
A You know at this point I remember her
standing in the room and saying it, but I don't remember
which date it was on.
previous day.
Q You've answered my question.
A
I'm sorry.
I had talked to her the
Okay.
MR. THOMAS: No further questions.
THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Flower.
MR. FLOWER: No recross, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey.
MR. FREY: No questions, Your Honor.
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BY THE COURT:
Q There's been some testimony about a clock,
and I'm not sure I quite understand the significance of the
clock. What kind of clock are we talking about?
A It's a kind of clock that's hung on the wall,
and it's called a banjo clock, and the reason it's
significant is that I thought everything was going according
to mom's plans, and our family dynamics were fine, until Tom
called me the Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend in 2003
and said that he had seen mother's will late the previous
fall, and she had made a number of bequests, and he was very
upset that he was not getting the clock, I was, because he
had always wanted the clock.
And we had a short conversation, and he
pressed, and it was clear there was not -- he was not going
to get off the phone until I told him about the clock, and I
said, no clock is worth a relationship. If it means that
much, you can have it, but then I started to cry because it
was actually daddy who had given me that clock, and there
was a little sticker in it that says this is the property of
my daughter Julia and is to be given to her in the event of
my death, and he signed his name.
And my husband came home and said, why are
you crying? And I explained about Tom and the call, and he
said, call him back, and said your mother's been diagnosed
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with dementia, but she's certainly not dead, and you have
time to work through this. And he suggested giving it a
little time. And then Jeff said, his opinion was, if it was
going to be a bone of contention, neither of us should have
it, but when I called Tom back his tone changed, and he
said, well, you know, Julia, it doesn't really matter what
you think because I've already taken care of it. And I
said, well, what do you mean you've taken care of it? He
said, I've already taken care of it.
And that was when I said, but you can't just
change wills, and he said, I've taken care of it. And then
I said, well, Tom, I'm going to have to go see a lawyer
because you can't do that. And then his voice was real high
and he said, well, you're going to do what you're going to
do, and I said, well, it's not about what I'm going to do,
it's about what you've already done, and then we hung up,
but that was what initiated my concern that things weren't
going at all the way I had thought they were.
Q Okay. And that conversation on the phone was
when?
A It was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend
2003, but I don't know what the date was. We'd have to
check the calendar.
Q And just out of curiosity, where is the clock
now?
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A
I do not know.
I assume Tom has it.
Q But did the will take care of the clock?
Did it mention the clock? If you know.
A What I know is that I called Mr. Frey's
office the Tuesday after Memorial Day because I went down
with --
Q Well, if you don't know -- if you don't know
what the will said, that's fine. I don't want you to say
what Mr. Frey told you.
A Well, somebody read me a letter and said this
is what it says, and the letter --
Q I guess we'll look at the will and see what
happened to the clock, if it even matters.
THE COURT: Mr. Thomas, any further
questions?
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Only, Julia, would you take a look at Exhibit
Number 2, the telephone summary?
A Sure. Give me a minute. Yes.
Q All right. Take a look at Exhibit Number 3,
the one having to do with the cell phones.
A Okay. Just a second. Okay. Yes.
Q Does that show the telephone calls that were
taken and placed between you and Tom that night that he
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first told you about the clock?
A Yes.
Q Okay. And--
A And they're dated 5/24. So that must have
been it.
Q And there would be a telephone call -- who
made the first call?
A He called me.
Q Okay. So that doesn't show up on this?
A No. It would be my return calls that would
be on here.
MR. THOMAS: All right. No further
questions.
THE COURT: Mr. Flower.
MR. FLOWER: No further questions.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey. Anything further,
Mr. Frey?
MR. FREY: No questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you. You may
step down. Thank you.
THE WITNESS: Sure.
THE COURT: We'll take about a five minute
recess.
(Whereupon, a recess was taken at 11:10 a.m.,
and court resumed at 11:23 a.m.)
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AFTER RECESS
THE COURT: Mr. Thomas.
MR. THOMAS: Yes, Your Honor. I would call
Helen Kollas to the witness stand.
Whereupon,
HELEN KOLLAS
having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Would you please state your name, and spell
your last name for the record?
A Helen Kollas, K-o-I-I-a-s.
Q And, Helen, where do you live?
A On South College Street, 519 South College.
Q Would you like some water?
A Please.
Q Was that 519 South College Street?
A Yes, Carlisle.
THE COURT: And that's Carlisle,
Pennsylvania?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Thank you.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Is that near where Eleanor Coolidge lived
before she went in a nursing home?
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A Yes. Yes, it is.
Q How far away from Eleanor's house were you?
A Approximately three blocks.
Q Okay. And do you work outside the home?
A I'm retired, and very happily so.
Q Okay. Did you know Eleanor Coolidge?
A Yes, I did.
Q And how did you get to know her say In the
most recent time that you've known her?
A It was through her cat Willy. Eleanor had
been ill and I had been called to assist her in caring for
her cat, and I went to pick up the cat. This was where our
friendship was renewed. I did pick up Willy and took him to
Boiling Springs clinic and returned him the next morning
when Eleanor called me and told me she wanted him back.
Q Now, you said that your friendship was
renewed that time. Had you known her some time in the past?
A We both lived on Conway Street. My family
lived on Conway Street at 231. I forget her address, but it
was a couple of houses.
Q How long ago was that?
A Thirty years ago.
Q Okay. So during that time, maybe 20, 25
years, you really were not --
A No, we weren't. I taught in the South Bronx
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in New York. I had come back and forth to Carlisle, but
mostly I was in New York.
Q So when you went to pick up her cat, that is
what you say -- that renewed your friendship?
A That did, Yes.
Q All right.
THE COURT: And when was that?
THE WITNESS: Pardon?
THE COURT: When was that?
THE WITNESS: That was in the fall of 2001.
THE COURT: Okay.
THE WITNESS: I would say it was -- I think
it was October or November of 2001.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Okay. Now, after you renewed that
friendship, how often would you see Eleanor?
A I saw her every day, at least once a day.
Frequently three times a day. I would drop in and out of
the house all the time.
Q Okay. And did Eleanor welcome your visits?
A Always. Always.
Q Did she ever call you and ask you to come
over?
A Oh, yes. Yes. There were times when she
would call that I would just say, I'll be right there.
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Q And other than talking about -- well, let me
ask you, are you a cat lover?
A Of course.
Q Other than you and Eleanor talking about your
cats, did you have other conversations?
A We did. We talked about old times on Conway
Street. We talked about our kids and our grandchildren.
And basically we had the same hairstylist, the same dentist,
and we just really enjoyed each other's company. I enjoyed
her.
Q All right. During the year from 2001 up
through the end of 2002, during that time period is it your
testimony that you saw her practically every day?
A Yes. Except when she was in the hospital.
And I wouldn't see her every day, but frequently I would
drive her there.
Q All right. Did she ever discuss her children
with you during that time?
A Yes.
Q Before she went in the nursing home?
A Yes.
Q Did she ever discuss her relationship with
Julia and her?
A Yeah. It was her daughter. We both had a
daughter, both had gone to med school. She spoke well of
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her.
Q
A
She spoke well of Julia?
Yes.
Q Did she ever make any comments about Julia to
indicate an estranged relationship between her and Julia?
A Not that I remember. I don't remember that.
And I do know that there were many times I would go to her
house where Eleanor would be on the phone with Julia.
Q And would you hear Eleanor's side of the
conversation?
A I did.
Q How would you characterize Eleanor's
participation in that conversation?
A Normal. She was fine.
Q It wasn't anything that caused you any
concern?
A No, not at all.
Q Did she talk about any of her other children?
A She did.
Q Specifically Tom, did she discuss him?
A Yes.
Q In your presence?
A She did.
Q Did she discuss her relationship with Tom in
your presence?
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A She did. She told me that Tom wanted her out
of her house. He wanted friends to be -- he didn't want her
to be in the house. Tom wanted his friends to live in her
house. That's how
what she said to me.
Q And do you know when that -- when she would
have made those statements?
A She made those throughout. I told her it
couldn't happen unless she let it happen.
Q All right. When you say throughout, you mean
throughout --
A Throughout my friendship, yeah. Yeah.
Q Okay. Were you ever at the -- at Eleanor
Coolidge's house when her locks were being changed?
Yes. I called the locksmith.
You called the locksmith?
I called the locksmith.
Why did you call the locksmith?
Eleanor wanted to change the locks to her
A
Q
A
Q
A
house.
Q
locks?
A
her house.
Q
A
Did she tell you why she wanted to change the
She didn't want Tom to be able to get into
Did she say why?
She didn't say directly, although she
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indicated money had been taken from her house.
Q Was anyone else present when the locks were
being changed other than you and Eleanor and the locksmith?
A I think it was just the three of us, although
I don't remember when her neighbor Virginia came in. I know
Virginia came over at one point, but I don't know if it was
the same
Q What did you and Virginia --
THE COURT: Wait. Who is Virginia?
THE WITNESS: Virginia Schweiter. I
mispronounce her second name. She's a neighbor of
Eleanor's.
THE COURT:
Oh, I see.
THE WITNESS: And she lives on Mooreland.
THE COURT: Okay.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q How old is Virginia?
A I think Virginia might be in her seventies.
She's more around Eleanor's age. I'm a little younger than
those two women.
Q Okay. What did you and Eleanor and Virginia
do around the time that the locks were being changed?
A Well, now that the locksmith was there,
however, Virginia and I told Eleanor she did not need to
have cash in the house. Apparently this was something that
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Bud, the husband, Eleanor's husband, felt they should have
cash in the house for emergencies, but we Virginia and I
said we'd put the cash in the bank for her. She could write
a check for whatever she needed, for bills or a delivery or
anything of the like.
Q Did Eleanor agree with that?
A Yes.
Q Did you gather up the cash?
A We did.
Q How much cash did you gather up?
A What we counted was in the vicinity of two to
three thousand, that I remember.
Q Okay.
A And we -- I think Virginia took it to the
bank. She did. Either one of us was going to, but Virginia
wound up taking it to the bank.
Q All right. When did you meet Julia?
A The very first time I met Julia was on the
phone. I had driven Eleanor to the hospital. Eleanor was
depressed
Q What hospital are you talking about?
A Chambersburg. Eleanor was suicidal. I say
that in that there were times when Eleanor would call me and
tell me she had nothing to live for, and I would go right
over and we would just sit and talk, and I could always kind
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of get her in a better frame of mind other than gloom and
doom, and she referred to me as, you know, what you see is
what you get with Helen, and that was who I was.
Q So we were talking about when you first met
Julia.
A Oh, Julia called me to find out how her
mother was. Apparently she learned she was in the hospital,
and I gave her whatever I knew, where she was. She was in
Chambersburg Hospital.
Q Do you know which one of the times this was
when Eleanor was in Chambersburg Hospital? If you know.
A No.
THE COURT: What year was it?
THE WITNESS: I think it was the second time.
THE COURT: What year is that?
THE WITNESS: 2002.
THE COURT: Okay.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Is that the first time you ever spoke with
Julia?
A Yes. She was very warm, and I thought that
she at least did call to find out how her mother was. I--
as I say, I drove Eleanor to Chambersburg Hospital, and I
never heard from the sons at any time then.
Q All right. Now, I want to move forward in
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time. Did you ever meet with Julia prior to her mother
going into the Green Ridge Nursing Horne?
A I don't think so.
Q Okay. Did you continue to speak with Julia
on the phone?
A Yes.
Q Did you go to Green Ridge Village Nursing
Horne to visit Eleanor with Julia?
A I did.
Q Do you recall when that was?
A I'm going to say the fall of 2002.
Q How many times did you actually go with Julia
to --
A With Julia, once.
Q Okay. And do you recall what transpired that
day that you and Julia went to visit Eleanor?
Well, just prior to my visiting
Just answer that. Do you recall what
A
Q
happened?
A
Q
Eleanor?
A
Yes.
Okay. So when you and Julia arrived, how was
Eleanor was -- when she saw us, she didn't
see me. She looked passed me, she saw Julia, and she looked
agitated. She was stressed. And I was surprised simply
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because Eleanor told me that Julia was going to go see -- I
had seen Eleanor prior to that visit, and Eleanor had told
me, Julia's coming to see me. So I was surprised at this
reaction.
Q Now, what was it about the reaction that
surprised you?
A That Eleanor just didn't greet the two of us
warmly, but that she was -- she looked frightened.
Q How long did you and Julia remain in the room
with Eleanor when you first entered?
A Eleanor -- I'm sorry. Julia said something
to her mother and left the room, and I was just visiting
with Eleanor when Julia left the room. And I asked Eleanor
what was wrong, and she said, she's trouble.
She's trouble.
I said, who's trouble? She said, Julia. I said, Eleanor,
what's wrong? She said, she's going to get an attorney and
drag our name through the mud. I said, Eleanor, this is
your daughter. This is Julia. She came because she loves
you. And Eleanor quieted down and ultimately did speak with
Julia.
Q Okay. So you say Julia left you alone with
her mother for approximately how long?
A Fifteen, twenty minutes.
Q When Julia returned, how did the -- how did
her mother react to her returning?
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daughter.
A She was calm. She welcomed her as a
Q Did Julia then have an opportunity to talk
with her mother?
A She did. I don't remember what they said.
Q Did you remain in the room?
A I did. I did.
Q Did there come a time when the three of you,
you, Eleanor, and Julia, were all involved in a conversation
before you left?
A Yes.
Q What was that conversation about?
A Eleanor wasn't sure how she got to where she
was, and I asked her -- because she and I had spoken prior
-- Eleanor and I had spoken prior to this about her ever
going to a nursing home.
Q When you say prior to this, how long prior?
A A year before.
Q Okay. Now, you can go ahead. You had spoken
about what?
A Thornwald. And she preferred Thornwald.
She didn't want to be in Newville, and --
Q Now wait, wait.
A Okay. I got lost.
Q Let me back you up here. When did you have a
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prior conversation about Thornwald?
A Oh, I don't know exactly when, but during the
year -- I would say maybe 6 months before she ever went to
Green Ridge.
Q
Okay.
And what was the conversation about
Thornwald?
A Eleanor said that Tom wanted to sell the
house to friends again, and that she -- if she had to go
somewhere, where would she go, and she said Thornwald.
Q Where is Thornwald in relation to your house?
A It's right across Walnut Bottom Road. I
could walk to it.
Q How far away from Virginia's house?
A She could walk too. Maybe two blocks from
Virginia.
Q
All right.
Had she ever at that time talked
about going to a place in Newville?
A No, never.
Q Did she even mention a place in Newville?
A Not until really -- about 6 months later she
may have mentioned Green Ridge, I think.
Q All right. Now, so you're having this
conversation in the room sometime in the fall, you, Julia,
and Eleanor?
A Right.
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Q And Eleanor brings up Thornwald again?
A I may have made -- I may have said Thornwald.
I may have said, do you want to be at Thornwald?
Q Why would you have asked her that?
A Because that's what she told me before, that
she wanted to go.
Q Well
A And she was unhappy there. She didn't like
being where she was.
Q Did she tell you that?
A She did tell me that.
Q And what part did Julia play in this
conversation?
A Julia asked Eleanor if she would like someone
else, another attorney or someone else, to speak with her
about getting her to Thornwald, and Eleanor said yes.
Julia mentioned Bob Frey, and Eleanor said yes again. I
told Eleanor I would be with her, and Eleanor said yes.
Q Okay. And who was to call Bob Frey?
A I called Bob Frey.
Q You did call Bob Frey?
A I did.
Q When?
A I think it was the next day, but I'm not
really sure what day it was when we went to see Eleanor, the
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day of the week.
Q And what was your purpose for calling Bob
Frey?
A I was -- I thought I would be going with him
to see Eleanor for her to speak freely.
Q What were you going to tell him when you
talked to him?
A
him.
Q
present?
A
did.
Q
between you
Eleanor?
A
I told him that Eleanor wanted to speak with
And did you suggest that you would be
You know, I really can't -- I don't think I
Okay. Was there any conversation at all
and Bob Frey about you going with him to visit
What I do remember is that the other attorney
indicated I couldn't go, and I just don't remember the
workings of that.
THE COURT: By the other attorney, whom are
you referring to?
THE WITNESS: It was -- I don't remember his
name either, I'm sorry, but it was the Kutulakis agency or
attorney at law. I think his name was Travis. It began
with a T.
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THE COURT:
All right.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Someone in the office of Jason Kutulakis?
A Of Kutulakis, yes.
MR. FLOWER: For clarity sake, Your Honor,
for the record, Michael Traxler represented
Ms. Coolidge-Stolz earlier, and that may be the individual
she's referring to.
THE WITNESS: I think it is. It is. Thank
you.
THE COURT: All right.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q When you and Julia left her mother on that
visit, how was Julia's mother responding to her to say
good-bye?
A She was responding in a motherly fashion.
Julia said I love you. Eleanor said I love you. They
kissed on the cheek, and we left. I gave Eleanor a hug and
a kiss. I always gave her a bear hug.
THE COURT:
THE WITNESS:
When was this again, this visit?
It was, I think, October of
2002.
time Ms.
THE COURT: And are you saying that at that
the Petitioner already had hired Mr. Kutulakis's
firm for something?
In other words, how was Mr. Kutulakis
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1 involved at that point in whether Mr. Frey would see Eleanor
2 alone? Does that make any sense?
3 THE WITNESS: No. It makes no sense.
4 THE COURT: No sense?
5 THE WITNESS: No.
6 THE COURT: Okay.
7 THE WITNESS: I'm sorry.
8 THE COURT: I must have misunderstood then
9 the testimony.
10 THE WITNESS: I really have to think about
11 that.
12 THE COURT: Well, you said that Mr. Traxler
13 had said that you couldn't see Mr. Frey at the same time
14 Ms. Coolidge saw him or did I misunderstand that also?
15 THE WITNESS: No. I think that's what I did
16 say.
17 THE COURT: So at that time somehow
18 Mr. Traxler was involved?
19 THE WITNESS: I would have to rely on -- I
20 don't know.
21 MR. THOMAS: Do you mind if I ask her a few
22 questions?
23 BY MR. THOMAS:
24 Q You've just testified that you believe it was
25 in October when you went to visit Eleanor with Julia; is
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that correct?
A Right.
Q Okay.
A So that's two thousand -- was that 2003?
Q It was October at the nursing home, correct?
A Right. Yes.
Q Okay. Then it was after that visit that you
first called Mr. Frey because of the conversation that you
had?
A Right.
Q Did you ever hear back from Mr. Frey about
going
A No, no.
Q And at some time after that conversation with
Mr. Frey is when you spoke to Michael Traxler, and he said
that --
A Yes.
Q -- you couldn't go?
A Yes.
Q Do you remember how long after that that you
had a conversation with Michael Traxler?
A No, I don't. I'm sorry. I really don't.
Q Were you present here in court in November at
the hearing
A Yes.
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Q -- that Eleanor attended?
A Say that again. I'm sorry.
Q The hearing that Eleanor attended?
A No, I was not.
Q Could it have been after that hearing that
you actually spoke with Mr. Traxler?
A Yes.
MR. THOMAS: No further questions.
THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Flower.
CROSS EXAMINATION
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q Mrs. Kollas, you said that Mrs. Coolidge was
concerned that there might be some money missing?
A I beg your pardon.
Q Mrs. Coolidge was concerned that there might
have been some money missing from her house?
A Yes.
Q Okay. She didn't tell you that Tom stole the
money, right?
A No. She told me who she thought did, but she
didn't say that it was Tom.
Q Okay. And you don't have any personal
knowledge of anybody actually stealing money from her house,
do you?
A I'm sorry. I can't hear you.
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Q I'm sorry. You don't actually have any
personal knowledge that someone did steal money from the
house, of your own knowledge?
A I can only believe what Eleanor said.
Q Did she say that she saw someone steal money?
A No. She said money was missing.
Q Okay. Did she know how much money was left
at that time?
A She -- how much was left? No. Virginia and
I counted that.
Q Okay. And you gave her good advice to put
the money ln the bank so
A I thought it was good advice.
Q Now, are you aware that -- I have the
understanding that Mrs. Coolidge may have visited a number
of homes with sometimes family and sometimes with other
people. Does that sound right to you?
A What was the first part of that?
Q I have the understanding, based upon what I
have heard, that Mrs. Coolidge may have visited a number of
homes?
A She visited a couple. I don't know about the
number.
Q Okay.
A I think Philip took her. I think that's how
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I heard Green Ridge. I think Philip had taken her to Green
Ridge.
Q Okay. And she went with somebody to
Thornwald, right? If you know.
A I don't know.
Q Now, the time that you visited with Julia
that you testified to most recently, did you think that was
October of 2003?
A Yes.
Q Okay. So I just want to make sure I
understand what you said. You said that she seemed to be
agitated and looked frightened when Julia came?
A When we first entered, yes.
Q And she said to you that Julia was trouble?
A Yes.
Q And she said she's going to get an attorney
and drag our name through the mud?
A Yes.
Q Now, around October of 2003, you may not be
aware of this, but there was a petition which
Ms. Coolidge-Stolz filed to have her mother declared
incompetent and have a guardian appointed, and the hearing
took place on November 17. At that time, at the time of
that meeting, she had not filed that petition; is that
correct?
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A Could you repeat that? I didn't follow it.
Q Sure. Are you aware that there was a
petition filed in November?
A I am now.
THE COURT:
November of what year?
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q November of 2003. Specifically, my
understanding is it was filed November 12th, 2003. Were you
aware that such a petition was filed? If you weren't --
A I do know now. I'm not sure I knew then.
Q Okay. When did you learn of the petition?
A I don't know.
Q To your knowledge, did you have any
conversation with Ms. -- Mrs. Coolidge about the petition
after it was served on her?
A No.
MR. FLOWER: No further cross examination,
Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey.
MR. FREY: No questions.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Thomas.
MR. THOMAS: No redirect, Your Honor.
BY THE COURT:
Q This visit where Eleanor said that Julia was
trouble, was that in 2002 or 2003?
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A
Q
A
Q
2003.
Oh, I see.
I think I made that error. I'm sorry.
That's all right.
5 THE COURT: Okay. Any other questions? If
6 not, you may step down. Thank you.
7 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
8 THE COURT: And may this witness be excused?
9 MR. THOMAS: Yes, Your Honor.
10 MR. FLOWER: Certainly no objection, Your
11 Honor.
12 MR. FREY: Yes, Your Honor.
13 THE COURT: All right. You may stay or leave
14 as you choose. Thank you. Why don't we take this
15 opportunity to recess for lunch, and we will resume at 1:15.
16 MR. THOMAS: Thank you, Your Honor.
17 (Whereupon, a lunch recess was taken at 11:53 a.m.)
18
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1:15 p.m.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Courtroom No. 1
2
3
THE COURT: Mr. Thomas.
4
MR. THOMAS: At this time, Your Honor, on
5 behalf of the Petitioner, I would call Robert M. Frey,
6 Esquire.
7 ---------
8 ROBERT M. FREY,
9 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
10 DIRECT EXAMINATION
11 BY MR. THOMAS:
12
Q
Mr. Frey, please state your name and your
13 business address.
14
A
Robert, middle initial M as in Mark, Frey,
15 F-R-E-Y, 5 South Hanover Street, Carlisle, PA 17013.
16
Q
Okay. And what is your profession?
17
A
Attorney-at-law.
18
Q
And how long have you been practicing law in
19 Pennsylvania?
20 A Fifty years.
21 Q And during the course of your practice of law
22 -- strike that. As an attorney, do you assist clients with
23 estate planning?
24
A
Yes.
25
Q
And in your course of your practice as an
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attorney here in Carlisle, have you had the occasion to
represent Eleanor U. Coolidge?
A Yes.
Q You're related to Eleanor Coolidge in some
fashion, are you not?
A That's correct. We're third cousins.
Q And you've known Eleanor since you were both
kids?
A Since I was 5 years old.
Q Okay. And I assume you also knew her
husband, Warren Coolidge?
A Yes. But from a later date. We were
classmates at Dickinson College.
Q You were classmates with Eleanor's husband,
Warren?
A Yes.
Q Okay.
A I think so. I'm not positive whether they
were in the class of '49 or '50. At that time, classes were
a little scrambled. I think Warren was '50, and I think
Eleanor was '50. But she may have been accelerated. We
were high school classmates, and she was valedictorian of
our class.
Q All right. So you have a long history with
Eleanor?
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A That's correct.
Q Okay. Now, during the -- let's limit it to
approximately the last ten years. Do you know how many
times you've had an occasion to write a will for Eleanor?
A I don't know the number, but it would have
been probably three or four times.
Q Okay. And in those -- not counting the will
that was executed on December 8, 2003, but the wills prior
to that, did they all make provisions for Julia as her
daughter to inherit under her will?
A I think so.
Q And if your recollection is such, was Julia
treated substantially the same as her brothers Tom and
Philip Coolidge in those prior wills?
A I think that's substantially correct. There
were a few minor details over some personal items of
personal property; but compared to the size of the estate,
they would have been minimal.
Q Okay. And did you draft the will on December
8, 2003, that was executed on December 8th, 2003?
A Ye&.
Q And in that will, there's a specific
provision not to leave any part of the residue or really any
part of the estate to Julia; is that correct?
A That is correct.
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Q Do you know when you would have prepared the
will that was executed on December 8th, 2003?
A A few days earlier, maybe a week earlier.
But the execution of it was delayed from the date of
preparation intentionally by me.
Q Okay. Did you also prepare the power of
attorney that was executed on December 20, 2002, in which
Eleanor Coolidge appointed her son Tom Coolidge to be her
attorney in fact?
A Yes.
Q At or around the time that you prepared the
power of attorney, did you prepare any other documents in
which Eleanor would have inter vivosly transferred any of
her property?
A Yes.
Q Okay.
A To the extent that a clock is significant
enough to acquire -- require an affirmative action to your
question.
Q Okay. So you -- maybe I should have been
more specific in my question. Did you prepare a document in
which Eleanor gave as a gift the quote, banjo, end quote
clock?
A That was the substance of the document. The
specific document was a codocil to her will of an earlier
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date in which the clock had been given to Julia, and the
codocil revoked the earlier will to the extent of the
provision of the clock for Julia and explained that the
clock would not pass by will but was being passed by inter
vivos gift to Tom.
Q Okay. And who requested?
THE COURT: When was that codocil if you
remember?
THE WITNESS: I think it was December 26th,
just a few days after the preparation of the power of
attorney.
THE COURT: December 26th of 2002?
THE WITNESS: Correct.
THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Thomas.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q In November -- late November, 2003, or early
December, 2003, did you have an occasion to visit with
Eleanor at Green Ridge village?
A Yes.
Q What was the purpose for your visiting her
there at that time?
A I received a message that she wished to see
me.
Q Okay. Do you recall from whom you received
that message?
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A I believe it was from her son Philip.
Q And the message that you got from her son
Philip, was there any explanation as to why she wanted to
see you?
A It was relative to her will and the desire to
make some changes.
THE COURT: And when was that that you got
that request?
THE WITNESS: It was after Thanksgiving of
2003. The will was subsequently executed on December 8th;
and I received the request probably 10 days earlier, maybe 2
weeks earlier. Could have been as early as the day after
Thanksgiving.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q When you travelled out to Green Ridge Village
to meet with Eleanor, I assume you met her at Green Ridge
Village?
A I did indeed.
Q Did you take anyone with you?
A I didn't take anyone with me, no; but I had
made prearrangements to meet with the psychiatrist.
Q Okay. I'm going to be getting to that. I'm
talking about your first meeting with Eleanor after the
phone call from Philip. Did you take anyone with you?
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A No.
Q When you met with Eleanor, where did you meet
with her?
A In her room.
Q Was anyone else present in the room other
than you and Eleanor?
A No.
Q Would you describe for us what Eleanor's
demeanor was on that particular day?
A I had met with her previously in her room,
and her demeanor was substantially the same as it had been
previously. She was always friendly, positive in her
thinking, and forthright.
Q Did you have any concerns when you met with
Eleanor whether or not she had the testamentary capacity to
be discussing changing her will at that time?
A Not during the course of the meeting I
didn't. I'm always concerned with any client whether they
have testimonial capacity, but it was soon clear to me that
she had testimonial capacity.
Q And what was it about her that made it clear
to you that she had testamentary capacity?
A She knew what she was talking about.
knew what she wanted. She knew what she didn't want.
She
It
was as clear as any client could be when you're making a
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will.
Q Okay. What did she tell you that she did not
want?
A Philip had suggested that she might want to
make a change in the provisions for Philip, and she said she
did not want to make any change. She wanted to be in charge
of who got what, and it would be on the basis of her
decision and nothing would be left for Philip to possibly
alter the amounts to be received by his children.
THE COURT: When you say Philip had suggested
it, had suggested it to whom?
THE WITNESS: Beg your pardon?
THE COURT: You had said Philip had suggested
this, but to whom?
THE WITNESS: Philip had suggested to me that
I should inquire of his mother whether she might like to
make a little adjustment in the provisions she had made for
him. And I understood from Philip that he had at least
broached the subject to his mother.
THE COURT: An adjustment in what sense?
THE WITNESS: That she might want to consider
allowing him to allocate the income from his trust fund and
the ultimate disposition of principal between his children
rather than have it be precise as Eleanor had set forth.
And she indicated she would do the division and she would
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not desire to have any change in authorizing Philip to have
something in the nature of a power of appointment.
THE COURT: Very good. Now Mr. Thomas.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Did she make any comments with regard to
Julia?
A Yes.
Q And what were those comments?
A Out. Positively, affirmatively.
Q Is that the word that she used?
A Exactly. And she dramatically raised her arrr
in the air to indicate that that was her positive intention.
Q Okay. How long were you present in the room
for that interview of Eleanor?
A Probably a half an hour.
Q Now, I believe you testified before that you
took some candy and made a social callout of it as well?
A Not on that occasion. That was an earlier
occasion when I had been requested to visit Eleanor and I
made it appear as a more of a social visit than a
professional one.
Q Okay. Other than discussing Tom and his
request and Julia, was there discussion about any other
persons?
A It wasn't Torn's request. It was Philip's
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request that was discussed; and, of course, Julia's
provision was discussed.
Q Okay. Well, other than Philip and Julia, was
there discussion about anyone else?
A I think I might have mentioned it when Julia
would be excluded it would also exclude her porgeny which at
the moment was one child by the name of Joseph.
Q Now, you say you think you might have. Can
you testify with certainty that you did in fact have that?
A I think I did.
Q You think you did?
A As you refresh my memory, so to speak, I
think I can say positively that I did make it clear that
were Julia to be eliminated from the will as she was
instructing me it would also eliminate Joseph or any other
decedents of Julia unless she instructed me otherwise.
Q And what was her response to the fact that
now her grandson was going to be out?
A Nothing was to be provided for Julia or her
progeny.
Q Did she use the word progeny?
A No. But that was the substance of it.
Q What words did she use?
A Nothing.
Q Nothing meaning what did she say?
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A Nothing was to be provided for Joseph or
anybody else, a decedent.
Q Can you tell me what she said in her own
words after you made the comment to her about Julia's
progeny?
A I think it was no response to my question, Do
you want to provide anything for Joseph? And her answer was
no.
Q And you keep using the word think. Do you
did you take notes when you were present there with Julia
with Eleanor?
A I don't think so.
Q After you left Green Ridge Village on that
date where you discussed making these changes in the will,
did you see her again prior to December 8th, 2003?
A No.
Q Where was the will executed?
A At Green Ridge Village.
Q Who was present for the execution of the
will?
A The second witness, the psychiatrist.
Q And do you recall his name?
A Dr. Myers I believe was it.
Q Dr. Myers. Okay. Why was Dr. Myers present
for the execution of this will?
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A Because at this time I was well aware that
your client had made accusations of mental incapacity
concerning her mother, and I thought it best in any will she
executed -- she being Eleanor Coolidge -- be above any
reasonable basis for dispute as to her mental capacity.
Q Did you represent Eleanor Coolidge at the
competence the hearing that we had regarding that
competency question?
A I was present, but I did not represent her.
Q Did you have any discussions with Eleanor
prior to that hearing about the purpose for that hearing?
A I wouldn't characterize it as a discussion.
She understood what the purpose was and I
Q What was her understanding?
THE COURT: Let Mr. Frey finish his answer.
THE WITNESS: Beg your pardon?
THE COURT: Go ahead and finish your
sentence. You started to say I --
THE WITNESS: She knew an effort was being
made to declare her as being mentally incapacitated. And I
think the subject of the hearing was to cause the power of
attorney that she had earlier given to her son Tom to be
declared null and void.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Did you have any discussions with her about
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why Julia would have brought this petition for the
appointment of an emergency guardian?
A No. I didn't discuss what Julia's reasons
might have been.
Q Was there any discussion between you and
Eleanor that Julia was trying to protect her mother and her
assets by bringing that action?
A I don't think anybody ever suggested that
except Julia perhaps in the petition.
Q Okay. And when you say anybody, who else are
you talking about?
A Anybody who might have been interested in
Eleanor's assets.
Q They all characterized it as Julia dragging
her mother's name through the mud?
A I didn't hear them say that, but --
Q Is that what your perception was?
A I didn't have the perception that it was to
drag her name through the mud. I had the perception that it
was a vindictive action by your client because of a
relationship with her brother that was less than wholesome.
Q But you never had a discussion with my client
in order to formulate that opinion, did you?
A I had a telephone call from your client that
certainly was a partial basis for that opinion.
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Q Okay. And that's the telephone call that she
testified to about earlier today?
A I presume that's the one she had referred to.
That was in May of 2003.
Q Now, when you went back to Green Ridge
Village to have Eleanor execute the will, did you make any
arrangements with Dr. Myers about how the two of you would
meet with her?
A No. Only made the arrangement that we would
meet.
Q Where did you meet?
A We met in the lobby or waiting area of Green
Ridge Village.
Q And prior to your meeting with Dr. Myers, did
you go in and meet with Eleanor?
A Not between the time she gave me the
instructions for the will and the time we went to her room
together.
Q You and Dr. Myers?
A Correct.
Q You hadn't seen Eleanor since you had
interviewed her a week or so before that?
A That is correct.
Q How long were you and Dr. Myers present with
Eleanor before she actually signed the will?
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A I would judge about half an hour.
Q Now, you testified earlier that you thought
maybe 15 to 20 minutes. And today you're testifying half an
hour. Any reason for the discrepancy?
A I guess three months passage of time or
whether it was that I guessed it was 15 or 20 minutes.
Q Okay.
A Could have been 45. But it was not an
extended period of time.
Q If Dr. Myers also testifies it was 15 to 20
minutes, would you have any reason to disagree with that?
A I wouldn't quibble with it, no.
Q Now, part of that time would have been spent
with Dr. Myers and Eleanor talking and you just observing;
is that correct? Part of that 15, 20 minutes?
A Dr. Myers and I didn't both talk at the same
time. So when he spoke, I was silent and vice versa.
Q Well, did Dr. Myers conduct any tests or
anything with regard to Eleanor while you were present?
A Yes.
Q Okay. How long did it take him to do his
testing and that sort of thing?
A Probably depends on how you characterize
testing. But 10 or 15 minutes perhaps.
Q And it wasn't immediately after he had
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conducted his testing that you had Eleanor execute the will?
A Its execution didn't follow exactly on the
heals of his testing. There was a period of time during
which the proposed will that I had drafted was reviewed and
discussed before it was executed.
Q Did you read the entire will to Eleanor
before she executed it?
A I didn't read the entire will to her. I read
parts of it, and she read the entire will herself.
Q She did. Did she wear glasses?
A I don't remember.
Q Did she have any difficulty reading the will?
A Didn't seem to.
Q How long did it take her to read the will?
A Obviously I didn't clock her but six or eight
minutes, perhaps.
Q Mr. Myers, I want to show you what I have
marked as Petition Exhibit No.4. Can you identify that?
A It appears to be the will that I prepared for
Mrs. Coolidge in which she executed on December 8th of 2003.
Q After she read that will, did she have any
questions for you about its contents?
A After she read the will, I read the changes
to her and made sure she understood what those changes were;
and she indicated her approval of them.
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Q Well, what did you say to her?
A I read the provisions that indicated that
Julia was not included in the distribution and indicated
that.
Q Does the will say why Julia was not included?
A Yes.
Q What does it say?
A In paragraph 3 subparagraph C, as in Charlie,
it reads, "No provision has been made in this will for my
daughter Julia E. Stolz, not because of any absence of
motherly love by me for her, but because I am satisfied that
she has adequate resources to maintain a comfortable
standard of living by virtue of being a beneficiary of a
trust created by her father, and by the income earned by her
husband and her.
Q That doesn't sound like the explanation that
she gave to you when you visited with her at Green Ridge
Village to prepare the will. Is that what she told you at
that time?
A Those weren't her words.
Q No. Her words was, She's out?
A Right.
Q And she was out because she had dragged her
into court on a competency hearing; is that right?
A She didn't say that to me. That might have
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been her motivation, but she was too kind.
Q Did she give you that reason as the reason
why she was not leaving her in the will?
A They weren't her words.
Q Okay. And that wasn't her reasoning either,
was it?
A I think it was.
Q You think.
A I don't know. I can only surmise.
Q Okay. Did you have any discussion with
Eleanor about what her daughter's income was that she was
basing that determination on?
A Not in numbers, no.
Q Did you have any discussion with Eleanor
about the high medical expenses incurred as a result of the
psychiatric condition of Julia's son?
A No.
Q Was there any discussion comparing Eleanor's
income with the income of either her brother Thomas Coolidge
or Philip Coolidge?
A Comparing Eleanor's income?
Q No. Comparing Julia's income with either
Thomas Coolidge or Philip Coolidge?
A No.
Q Did Eleanor need any assistance in executing
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that will of December 8th, 2003?
A Yes.
Q What kind of assistance?
A She needed her hand steadied.
Q And who held her hand?
A I did.
Q And the hand that she was actually signing
with?
A Yes.
Q When she was done signing the will, did you
and Dr. Myers leave together?
A When she was done signing the will, we
witnessed it in her presence and then we left together.
MR. THOMAS: I have no other questions, Your
Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Flower.
CROSS EXAMINATION
BY MY FLOWER:
Q Mr. Frey, I'd like to be clear about the
terms of the will as they have changed from the prior will.
Under the present will that has been probated, the three
children of Mrs. Coolidge were even income beneficiaries; is
that correct?
A Yes.
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Q So that none of them would receive any
principal of the estate?
A There's a possibility that I believe certain
principal can be used for educational purposes for their
children if certain conditions are met.
Q So under those circumstances, there might be
some benefit to the parents but the parents themselves only
get income?
A That's correct.
Q Now, if you go back to the will that you
wrote immediately prior to that, was that the case in that
will too?
A I believe so, yes.
Q So that all three children were included but
in that also they were only to receive income?
A I think the will of December 8th and the
preceding will were substantially the same thing except that
the December 8th will made no provision for Julia or her
decedents.
Q And was that, if you can recall -- was that
general testamentary scheme used in prior wills as well?
A Yes.
Q And had you explained to her about how this
would be a generation skipping sort of will?
A Yes.
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Q Okay. And could I assume that's something
that she and her husband before her death had accepted for
some time?
A Yes.
Q Let's go and -- to the request by Philip
Coolidge. As I understand it, Philip had made the request
of his mother to change a portion of the will pertaining to
his children?
A I'm not sure it rose to the level of a
request but a suggestion.
Q Okay. Had he suggested that he have the
ability to adjust the income stream between his two children
or even the principal?
A And the principal as well, yes.
Q Do you happen to know whether that suggestion
was supported by Tom as well?
A I don't know.
Q You don't know. All right. But it's your
testimony that Mrs. Coolidge heard that suggestion and
rejected it; is that right?
A That's correct, she's objected very
positively.
Q You were questioned briefly about the banjo
clock?
A About what?
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Q The banjo clock.
A Yes. Oh, yes.
Q Can you go back and tell the Court a little
bit more about how that happened and your conversation with
Miss Coolidge-Stolz that you had made reference to?
A I think at the time the power of attorney was
signed in December of 2002. The question concerning the
banjo clock came up along with some other discussions about
personal property, and she asked Tom if he would like to
have it. And he said, yes.
Q And was there a point at which you had some
contact from Miss Coolidge-Stolz about that decision?
A I had no reason to contact Mrs. Stolz about
that decision.
Q But did she call you?
A Yes.
Q And can you recall the substance of that
conversation as you remember it?
A Well, I think it was in May 2003. And she
had learned not from me -- that her mother had given the
clock to Tom and was displeased about that. And she let me
know that she was displeased and displeased with me and
suggested that if I wasn't able to resolve this
satisfactorily to her that she might need to get an attorney
to represent her.
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And I agreed with her that that was a correct
conclusion that if she wanted to do something about it
retaining an attorney might be the best way because there
was nothing I was going to do about it. And then she hung
up abruptly, and I would characterize it as rudely. And
then a couple hours of later I got a telephone call from her
apologizing for the manner in which the earlier conversation
had been terminated by her which I appreciated.
Q Now, I think you indicated that there was a
time when you were contacted about talking to Mrs. Coolidge
about whether she wanted to continue at Green Ridge Village?
A Oh, that was in response to the visit that
Miss Helen Kollas referred to. I received a call from Helen
Kollas advising me that Eleanor wanted to see me. And I
think she said it was something to the effect that she was
-- that Eleanor was dissatisfied at Green Ridge Village.
I don't believe she said anything about a
will, but it was relative to that. And it was in response
to that call that I went up to Green Ridge Village and met
with Eleanor, had a pleasant visit. She indicated she was
very happy there.
Q Was that the visit that you said you sort of
made into a social call?
A Yes.
Q And brought her some candy?
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A Right.
THE COURT: When was that?
THE WITNESS: I think it was -- that was in
October.
THE COURT: Of 2003?
THE WITNESS: Either in October -- it was
either in October or right after the July 2nd or 3rd meeting
when Julia and Helen had visited Eleanor.
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q October of 2003?
A Correct.
Q And she indicated at that time that she was
satisfied to remain in Green Ridge?
A
Yes. And we discussed other things, too.
at that time, the house had already been
And she was
sold. She expressed satisfaction in the sale of the house
and the price that had been obtained and gratitude for the
work and attention that Phil and Tom had been giving her and
was just very pleased that events were unfolding as they
were.
Q Was there -- were there any instances when
Mrs. Coolidge talked about her relationship with her
daughter?
A Yes.
Q And how did she characterize that when she --
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1 do you recall approximately when that would have been?
2 A Well, it was on a couple of occasions. I
3 think the earliest one was after that June altercation or
4 dispute or whatever relative to Julia's visiting and the
5 request that she not visit and in my meeting after the
6 November hearing when she gave me the instructions for the
7 changes in her will.
8 Q That was November 17, 2003?
9 A Well, the hearing was November 17th; but the
10 mention about Julia is was in my subsequent meeting with
11 Eleanor. And she was very cautious in her words, and the
12 words she used was difficult which she used on other
13 occasions.
14 Q Mr. Frey, you were present at the hearing
15 not in judge's chambers but you were present at the
16 occasion of the hearing on November 17, 2003?
17 A I was present in the waiting room with
18 Eleanor and one or two others while you, Mr. Flower, were
19 apparently meeting with the Judge concerning that hearing.
20 Q With opposing counsel, I should add. Can you
21 describe Mrs. Coolidge's demeanor, her feelings when she was
22 with you waiting while we were with the Judge in chambers?
23 A She appeared to be terrified.
24 Q Do you have any sense of how long after that
25 hearing you got the call that -- from Mr. Philip Coolidge
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that Mrs. Coolidge wanted to see you?
A A week more or less. It could have been as
few as three or four days. Could have been ten days. It
was after Thanksgiving as I recall.
Q Did you ascertain at all whether
Mrs. Coolidge had a sense of her general assets?
A Yes.
Q Okay. And did she relate that to the net
worth of her husband's estate, her husband's trust?
A She did on the day when her will was signed.
Q Okay. Could you tell us a little bit about
that, Mr. Frey?
A In the course of the various questions that
Dr. Myers posed, he asked her about what her resources were,
what her assets were. And she indicated it was
approximately half a million dollars in the Warren Coolidge
trust and about a million and a half in her own individual
estate.
MR. FLOWER: That's all I have, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey, do you have any
testimony as a result of the Mr. Thomas's and Mr. Flower's
questions as -- on behalf of the estate.
THE WITNESS: Your question, Your Honor is do
I have anything --
THE COURT: Anything to add as a result of
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1 their questions.
2 THE WITNESS: I think it might be helpful to
3 the Court if I gave you something of a timeline. The will
4 -- earlier will was dated in 2001. And then the power of
5 attorney was December of 2002. And the gift of the clock to
6 Thomas was in December of 2002.
7 Sometime during the next few months, the
8 Petitioner, Mrs. Stolz, became aware of compensation of
9 receiving the clock under the terms of her mother's will was
10 not to be fulfilled because her mother had given it to Tom
11 evidenced by the fact that she called me and complained
12 about that fact and that in turn she suggested an
13 explanation as to why Eleanor became concerned that her
14 daughter Julia might be attempting to do something to
15 Eleanor by way of relocating her or whatever.
16 And, of course, then the effort to have her
17 declared mentally incompetent resulted in the November
18 hearing. And Eleanor then chose to eliminate Julia from her
19 will shortly after that November hearing. I think that may
20 be helpful to the Court.
21 ---------
22 EXAMINATION
23 BY THE COURT:
24 Q All right. And you said you've been in
25 practice for 50 years. Can you elaborate on your own
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background?
A I grew up in Carlisle, graduated from
Carlisle High School.
Q I'm thinking more your professional
background.
A I began practice in association with Merle F.
Hummel who was a prominent Carlisle attorney. He was a man
in his 70s when I became associated with him. And his
practice was by that time largely estates and real estate,
decedents' estates and real estate. And my practice has
likewise been substantially real estate and decedents'
estates and some tax practice.
Q Can you give any estimate as to how many
decedents' estates you've handled?
A I've never counted but probably a hundred or
two.
Q And have you held any positions?
A Have I -- I've been executor on a few
occasions.
Q Again, I'm thinking more of legal positions.
A Served on Borough counsel for 10 years, been
solicitor to the Zoning Hearing Board for probably 20 years.
MR. FLOWER: May I suggest Mr. Frey may have
been the prior president of the Bar Association.
BY THE COURT:
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Q
A
Q
purposes?
A
Q
purposes?
A
Q
A
Is that correct?
That's correct. The year 1981.
This clock, has that been valued for estate
Beg your pardon, sir?
Has the clock been valued for estate
No. Not that I'm aware of.
So we don't know what the value of that is?
No. I understand there were other gifts
besides the clock.
Q You said you delayed a few days or a week or
perhaps more in having Miss Coolidge come in to execute the
will. Why did you delay?
A I make it a practice whenever a client is
making a provision or absence of a provision in a will such
as disinheriting a child to not follow the client's
directions as promptly as I otherwise would so that in case
the client is acting out of anger there's a sufficient
cooling off period so that by the time you get around to
executing the will one can be satisfied that it is a genuine
intention of the client and not the reaction to a fit of
anger.
Q Okay. And where did you attend law school?
A Dickinson School of Law class of 1953.
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Q And have you held any positions at the law
school?
A I've been on its board of trustees while it
was an independent law school and subsequently president of
the law school by virtue of being president of the Board of
Trustees but not the CEO.
Q What was the date of the will preceding the
will of December 26th, 2000 -- I'm sorry -- December 8th,
2003?
A I believe it was 1991.
Q I think you may have referred to a 2001 date?
A What did I say, 1991? 2001.
Q And you don't know the exact date?
A Well, I think I have a copy of it in the
file. Think it's October. It was not long after
Mr. Coolidge's death.
THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Thomas or Mr. Flower?
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Only you said you do have a copy of the will
from December of 2001?
A Yes.
Q Is it an executed copy?
A Yes. I think it's a photo copy of an
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executed copy.
MR. THOMAS: I'd like to have that marked as
an exhibit and entered into evidence, Your Honor.
THE COURT:
MR. FREY:
THE COURT:
MR. FREY:
have it admitted.
MR. FLOWER: I don't think we have any
Do you have that here?
I have it in a file over here.
Mr. Flower?
Assuming you find it proper to
objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. We'll take a moment
and see if we can find that copy.
That's all I have, Your Honor.
MR. THOMAS:
MR. FREY:
THE COURT:
MR. THOMAS:
You want me to find the copy?
If you wouldn't mind.
Your Honor, I left a telephone
number with your secretary. I need to get it to call
Dr. Jurgensen because he's our next witness.
THE COURT: We'll take a recess then while
you do that; but, first, let's get this item into evidence.
MR. THOMAS: Do you want me to have him
identify this, Your Honor?
THE COURT: As long as you and Mr. Frey can
stipulate that is the will, I don't think it will be
necessary to have him testify again.
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MR. THO~: I would like to have this marked
as Plaintiff's Exhibit No.5.
THE COURT:
MR. FREY:
I'm sorry. Go ahead, Mr. Frey.
There's a codocil to that will if
you want to have the complete --
MR. THO~: Your Honor, I have 2 exhibits,
Plaintiff's Exhibit No.5 which is the prior will of Eleanor
U. Coolidge executed and dated October 24, 2001, and also
Plaintiff's Exhibit No.6, a codocil dated December 26th,
2002, which is a codocil to the will of October 2001.
THE COURT: All right. Are you moving for
their admission?
MR. THO~: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Flower, are you satisfied
that those items have been sufficiently identified and
should be admitted?
MR. FLOWER: I am. I don't know if we
admitted the actual probated will at this time, but if we
haven't that might be good to do that at this time.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey, do you have any
objection to the admission of Petitioner's Exhibit 5 and 6.?
MR. FREY: No objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Petitioner's 5 and 6 are
admitted. Mr. Thomas, are you moving for admission of
Plaintiff's Exhibit 4, the 2003 will?
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MR. THOMAS:
THE COURT:
MR. FLOWER:
THE COURT:
THE WITNESS:
Yes.
Mr. Flower?
No objection.
Mr. Frey?
No objection, Your Honor.
I
would add that will has been probated.
THE COURT: Petitioner's Exhibit 4 is
admitted also. Mr. Thomas, do you need a few minutes to get
your next witness by telephone?
MR. THOMAS: I see Dr. Jurgensen is scheduled
to be available, so I believe Dr. Jurgensen is relatively
short.
MR. FLOWER: In terms of orderly
presentation, Your Honor, I would just like the Court to be
aware that we have videotaped depositions of Dr. Brazel and
Dr. Myers -- Dr. Myers being the psychiatrist who witnessed
the will, Dr. Brazel the treating physician -- which were
taken subject to cross examination for the purpose of
presenting it here at this hearing.
So I understand that Mr. Thomas has
subpoenaed these gentleman. I just wanted you to be aware
we have the videotaped depositions which will be presented
in our portion of the hearing.
THE COURT: Mr. Thomas, which witness do you
want to call first?
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1 MR. THOMAS: I have to call Dr. Jurgensen.
2 He's waiting on the phone.
3 THE COURT: We'll take a few minutes while
4 you make that call.
5 ---------
6 (A recess was taken.)
7 ---------
8 MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, at this time on
9 behalf of Petitioner, I would call as our next witness
10 Dr. Jurgensen. And, Your Honor, we are taking
11 Dr. Jurgensen's testimony by telephone. And at this time, I
12 believe he needs to be sworn in.
13 THE COURT: Dr. Jurgensen, would you raise
14 your right hand please.
15 ---------
16 J. CRAIG JURGENSEN, M.D.,
17 having been du1y sworn, testified as follows:
18 THE COURT: Thank you. Mr. Thomas.
19 ---------
20 DIRECT EXAMINATION
21 BY MR. THOMAS:
22 Q Dr. Jurgensen, would you state your full name
23 and your business address?
24 A Okay. My full name is John Craig, C-R-A-I-G,
25 Jurgensen, J-U-R-G-E-N-S-E-N. And the address is 850 Walnut
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Bottom Road, Carlisle 17013.
Q And Dr. Jurgensen, what is your profession?
A I'm a physician with a specialty in
neurology.
Q And Dr. Jurgensen, have you testified in the
Cumberland County Courts on previous occasions as an expert
in neurology?
A Yes, I have.
MR. THOMAS: I believe at this time, Your
Honor, that Mr. Flower and I would stipulate that Dr.
Jurgensen is a -- could testify as an expert in the field of
neurology.
MR. FLOWER: That's correct, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And Mr. Frey, do you also agree?
MR. FREY: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Dr. Jurgensen, would you explain the --
briefly explain the field of neurology?
A Neurology is a medical science and profession
that deals with illnesses, diseases of the central nervous
system and the peripheral nervous system, the central
nervous system being the brain and spinal cord and the
peripheral nervous system being the peripheral nerves and
the neuromuscular system and neuromuscular anatomy.
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And neurology deals with the medical
conditions involving any of those structures having to do
with diseases of the brain, diseases of the spine, nerves,
and muscles.
Q Okay.
A It's not a surgical specialty.
Q And Dr. Jurgensen, in the course of your
practice as a neurologist, did you have occasion at one time
to examine Eleanor Coolidge?
A Yes, I did on April the 30th, 2003.
Q And how did you come to do an evaluation of
Eleanor Coolidge?
A I responded to requests by her physician
Dr. Brazel at that time to complete and to provide a
neurological consultation on her. It was an office visit at
the time. Dr. Brazel requested I examine the -- her and the
nervous system function and attempt to make a diagnosis.
Q Did you know the reason why Dr. Brazel
referred her to you at that time?
A The reason indicated and his referral was
that there had been a change in her cognitive and personal
functioning such that he requested a diagnostic evaluation.
So it was for the purpose of answering as to why her
condition had deteriorated.
Q Okay. And had you -- prior to that, had you
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ever treated Eleanor Coolldge.
A No.
Q And since the evaluation that you conducted
in April of 2003, have you had any occasion to actually
treat Eleanor Coolidge?
A I did not treat her. I examined her again at
a second second consultation I completed in March 12th,
2004. At that time, she had been admitted to the hospital;
and I completed another consultation for her at that time.
Q All right. We are -- at this juncture, we're
concerned with the April 2003 evaluation that you conducted.
A All right.
Q Do you remember Eleanor U. Coolidge? Do you
remember her personally?
A I do.
Q Now, who was present with you when you
conducted that evaluation?
A I believe her son was present for the
examination.
Q Now, I have a letter written from you to
Dr. Brazel dated April 30, 2003. Do you have that there?
A I do.
Q I'm going to have it marked as Petitioner's
Exhibit No.7, and I'm going to ask you a few questions.
And then I want to direct your attention to this April 30,
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2003, letter.
A All right.
Q What would your examination of -- have
consisted of back in April of 2003?
A Well, as always it consisted of taking the
history, the history from her or from family who can give
corroborated report of her limited functioning -- of history
that is. And then the neurologic examination is a type of
physical examination which includes me evaluating her mental
status and her functional ability and describing all
elements of that having to do with speech, comprehension,
ability to converse.
And then following that evaluation of her
neuromuscular condition, her ability to move and how her
motor functions go as to whether they can move her limbs and
move her trunk, stand and walk and all of those against
normal for which this age would be matched for comparison to
what she does in contrast.
So it's doing the examine and making
observations. And that's in my paragraph where I, in
effect, gave the results of the neurologic examination as I
find to mental, physical, and motor functions.
Q And you used the information gathered through
those various technique to form a diagnosis?
A Correct.
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Q Now with regard to the history, was Eleanor
Coolidge able to give you the history herself?
A No.
Q And why was that?
A She was not able to do interactive
conversation. She was not able to formulate a verbal
response to my questions.
Q And so this personal history would have been
provided to you by her son Tom?
A Right.
Q Did you perform a mental status examination
on Eleanor Coolidge at that time?
A Yes, I did.
Q And how did Eleanor do on the mental status
examination?
A Well, I -- my mental status evaluation was --
because of the level she is, there was nothing quantitative
I could do. There was no -- I couldn't do a quantitative
mental status, you know, in terms of her -- measuring of her
intellect. And I couldn't even do what's called the brief
mini mental status test which is a numerical level.
At this level of function when someone cannot
verbalize, you can't be quantitative so you do a qualitative
examination of mental status having to do with an estimation
of her comprehension and her ability to follow commands and
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her ability to produce some sort of meaningful or verbal
response indicates some use of words or processing of words.
So a qualitative not a quantitative test I
did, and that's the best you could do under the
circumstance. You can't be quantitative. So my evaluation
of her mental status was that she was -- she had severe
cognitive impairment to the point of dementia.
Q Okay. And in looking at your letter of April
30, 2003, the last paragraph, the next to last sentence,
would you read that, please, into the record?
A Next to last sentence. All right. "There is
unfortunately no pharmacologic treatment that would be
useful at this stage."
Q And is that because of the severe status of
her dementia that medication would not benefit her?
A Right. There are a number of medications
available in the pharmacy area to stimulate things like
memory and cognition to some extent. When someone's
demented to this point, the practical use of those
medications is felt to be not useful.
And so that's what I referred to that the --
that the the pharmacologic drugs used in this condition
are at a much earlier phase when things are at an earlier
aspect of the disease when you can do some quantitative
evaluation as to outcome.
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At this point without quantitative ability to
measure her intellect and this degree of advancement in her
dementia, the drugs would not have any practical usage.
That's what that sentence refers to.
Q Now, I also note at the beginning of that
same paragraph you talk about the degenerative brain
disease. In fact, did Eleanor have degenerative brain
disease at that time?
A I believe so, yes.
Q And is that a progressive disease?
A By definition degenerative brain disease is
one of slow, gradual progression. And progression means
deterioration. Yes.
Q So from that time forward, she would have
continued to deteriorate at some rate?
Correct.
Was Eleanor Coolidge able to walk at that
A
Q
time?
A
Q
A
something?
Q
A
No, she was not.
How did she get around?
How did she get around? You mean at home or
In your office?
She didn't get around. I attempted to stand
her, but she exhibited a very poor truncal balance and what
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we call retropulsion. She tended to lean severely to the
backward position even with me helping her. She had really
so little truncal control and what we call truncal or
coordinative control that she could not stand independently.
So walking was impossible at that point. I
could have walked her by position -- by putting her legs
step to step. But that's not walking. So my earlier
paragraph indicates that her standing ability was impaired
with a strong sense of -- strong indication for retropulsion
which is like a negative pulling response against gravity.
She couldn't resist -- she could not resist gravity.
Q Okay. Thank you. I also notice -- now, this
is in the middle of your paragraph. You talk about in the
upper extremities there is strong bilateral grasp reflex?
A Right.
Q What does that mean?
A The grasp reflex is a response of the hands
that when you stimulate the hand in any way, like by
touching the hand or stroking the hand, the hand will
automatically reflex. It goes into a gripping or closing
position. It's called a grasp reflex. So any degree of
this manual stimulation by me resulted in an automatic
reflexive -- reflexive closure of the hand. Now that's
called the grasp reflex.
That was present in both hands, bilaterally.
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That always means that the cerebral input to manual function
has in effect dissolved and is virtually absent at that
point. If the hands respond quick to touch with a crude
grasp, the hands are no longer equipped to do anything
skillful.
Q If I understood you correctly, there's some
correlation between this bilateral grasp reflex and her
mental functioning?
A Absolutely. The grasp is a motor reflex
which strongly correlates with far advanced brain atrophy.
THE COURT: With what?
MR. THOMAS: Brain atrophy.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q And this brain atrophy would be in the
cerebral
A Yes.
Q In what
A More specifically the frontal -- the frontal
part of the brain which has to do with motoric programming
and motoric coordination of motor functions which are, you
know, learned functions that we've had earlier in life.
Frontal lobes have been probably atrophied to remove any
degree of skillful manual dexterity among other things. But
the grasp relax is a serious indicator of brain atrophy in
any stage of brain disease.
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Q And is it any indication of her ability to
function cognitively?
A Yes. As I said, they have -- those two
functions parallel very closely. If someone has manual
function reduced to the level of a grasp reflex, in most all
cases like that there's a correlated parallel of dementia on
the cognitive side. They often parallel very closely
together.
Q Dr. Jurgensen, the diagnosis that you made
and the opinions that you formed when you made this
diagnosis in April 30, 2003, did you indicate -- were these
-- was this diagnosis and the opinions made with a
reasonable certainty -- reasonable neurologic certainty?
A Yes, indeed, yes.
Q And your testimony here today based on your
review of your evaluation is the same with regard to your
opinions concerning her condition at that time?
A Yes, it's the same.
MR. THOMAS: I have no further questions,
Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Flower.
CROSS EXAMINATION
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q Dr. Jurgensen, as part of the history, did
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you review the medications that she was on at that time?
A Yes. I did indicate in my first part of the
letter that she had been given Zyprexa.
THE COURT: You'll have to spell that if you
will please, Doctor, for the stenographer.
THE WITNESS: Z-Y-P-R-E-X-A. Z-Y-E-R-E-X-A.
THE COURT: Thank you.
THE WITNESS: That's the only important
medicine that I listed. I don't think -- I think she was on
some other medications, but I don't have them listed. But
that -- that was the important one to list.
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q Dr. Jurgensen, do people with dementia have
good days and bad days?
A Yes, there's some degree of variability.
There is.
Q Is there also variability depending upon the
mix of medications which patients may have?
A Yes, in some cases like with Zyprexa that's a
modifying medication. It's called zerotropic --
psychotropic medicine. So yes, there would be potentially
some modifying affect on her behavior in a positive way,
perhaps, hopefully, with use of Zyprexa. So that will bring
out some variability.
Q Following your evaluation, there was actually
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1 a hearing on November 17, 2003, when Mrs. Coolidge appeared
2 in Judge Oler's chambers. And she was not ambulatory at
3 that time, and she certainly had difficulty speaking. But
4 she was able to give brief testimony.
5 And I'm just going to indicate to you that
6 she stated to the Judge that she was aware that her
7 residence at 365 Willow Street had been sold and that she
8 made the decision to sell it, that she also made the
9 decision to sell items of furniture for the money it would
10 bring, that she did not want her daughter to visit with her
11 in her residence because she hadn't gotten along with her.
12 And she acknowledged being hospitalized
13 because she was depressed after the death of her husband and
14 also indicated that her daughter's visits with her were
15 upsetting. And finally, she appointed Tom Coolidge as her
16 attorney in fact and was happy with her services.
17 If it is accurate as I'm representing to you
18 that these are the -- essentially the items you testified to
19 on those occasions, was she in a different condition from
20 when you examined her or was she in the same condition?
21 A Well, I did indicate in my letter that she
22 did comprehend. I think in the second paragraph I said she
23 comprehends quite well. And so her hearing and her ability
24 to do comprehension could be to some degree preserved enough
25 for her to comprehend and understand certain aspects.
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The -- the bigger part of dementia that
requires comprehension, sensing, and then output too, so her
problems were born in the motoric or output of this, motor
output, speech output, hand output, walking, moving,
trunking, all that. Motoric aspects were worse in her and
do also come under the -- under the degenerative aspect.
With any patient, there's more or less in
different realms of these people cognitive, more or less
mental, more or less motor, more or less in some cases
It's not the worst of everything.
So I did indicate and also that she had
comprehensive ability. Still dementia, though, I think in
terms of her ability to do processing and executed
considerations and so forth like that so
sensory.
THE COURT: What was that word you used,
latoric?
THE WITNESS: Yes, motoric, M-O-T-O-R-I-C.
THE COURT: Oh, motoric. All right.
Mr. Flower.
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q Dr. Jurgensen, we have kind of a key date
here when a document was executed which is December 8th,
2003. And obviously, you did not meet with her on that
occasion, but can you say to a reasonable degree of medical
certainty that she would not have known who her children
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were on that date?
MR. THOMAS:
THE COURT:
MR. THOMAS:
THE WITNESS:
MR. THOMAS:
I'm going to object, Your Honor.
On what ground?
On the ground that's
That was --
Wait a minute, Doctor. On the
grounds that he did not see Eleanor Coolidge from April 2003
until March 2004 and he cannot give an opinion as to what
she was like on December 8th, 2003.
MR. FLOWER: I don't disagree with
Mr. Thomas. I'll rephrase my question.
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q It's accurate that today, Dr. Jurgensen,
you're not offering an opinion as to her mental status as of
December 8th, 2003; is that right?
A Correct.
MR. FLOWER: That's all I have.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Frey, do you have
any questions of Dr. Jurgensen?
MR. FREY: No questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Thomas?
MR. THOMAS: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Dr. Jurgensen, thank
you very much for taking your time today, and you are
excused.
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THE WITNESS: Okay. Thank you all very much.
MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, at this time I call
Dr. Herbert Myers.
HERBERT E. MYERS, M.D.,
having been duly affirmed, testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Dr. Myers, please state your full name and
spell your last name for the record?
A Herbert E. Myers, M-Y-E-R-S, M.D.
THE COURT: I think you'll have to lean
forward and speak right into that microphone. Thank you.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q And what is your business address?
A My business address is I work for Philhaven.
That's 283 South Butler Road in Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania.
Q And in what capacity do you work there?
A I work there as a geriatric psychiatrist.
MR. THOMAS: And Mr. Flowers, would you
stipulate that Dr. Myers is an expert in geriatric
psychiatry?
MR. FLOWER: As he is our witness, I would be
foolish not to.
THE COURT: And Mr. Frey, do you also?
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MR. FREY: I do, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. And for the record,
what is Philhaven?
THE WITNESS: Philhaven is a freestanding
psychiatric institution with inpatient and outpatient
services.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Dr. Myers, in your capacity as a psychiatrist
with Philhaven did you have occasion to have as a patient
Eleanor Coolidge.
A Yes, I did.
Q Do you have your records there with you?
A Yes, I do.
Q Now, when did you first meet Eleanor
Coolidge?
A The first time I personally met her was on
May 19th, 2003. She had had a comprehensive psychiatric
assessment by my associate on March 24th of 2003; but I
didn't -- wasn't present for that one. I was present for a
follow-up of that on May 19th, 2003.
Q So you met her in March 2003?
A May of 2003. My associate met her in March.
Q May 2003. How many times did you actually
meet with Eleanor Coolidge?
A Counting that first time, I met her a total
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of three times.
Q Okay. So you met with her in May of 2003.
And when would the next time have been?
A July 14th, 2003.
Q And did you continue to treat Eleanor
Coolidge after the July 2003 meeting?
A I did not personally treat her. She was
continued to be seen by our therapist who was also a
therapist for her at the institution. But I didn't see her
again until December 8th.
Q And the records of that therapist, are they
in your possession there as well?
A Yes, they are.
Q And what's the identity of the therapist who
would have been seeing Eleanor Coolidge?
A She's a social work clinician.
Q And her identity?
A Oh, I'm sorry. Her name?
Q Yes.
A Faithe Zercher. That's F-A-I-T-H-E,
Z-E-R-C-H-E-R.
Q And do you rely upon her records from her
therapeutic sessions in you providing treatment to Eleanor
Coolidge?
A Yes, I find them helpful.
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Q And does she make those records in the
ordinary course of her business of providing treatment to
Eleanor?
A Yes.
Q And her records have been placed in the same
file with your records concerning Eleanor Coolidge?
A That's correct.
Q When is the last time that this social worker
would have seen Eleanor Coolidge?
A She saw her last on September 17th, 2003.
Q Okay. And to your knowledge, Eleanor
Coolidge remained a resident at Green Ridge Village beyond
that last date that she saw her?
A Yes.
THE COURT: Wait, you need to let Mr. Thomas
finish his question or the record won't be complete. What
was the question?
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q You do know that Eleanor remained as a
resident at Green Ridge Village beyond after the last time
that the social worker saw her?
A Yes.
Q Does the social worker's notes indicate why
she stopped seeing Eleanor in July 2003?
A Yes. She notes that due to cognitive
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decline, ongoing individual support and therapy will have
little benefit and will be terminated. It's also a note
that she was doing better mentally at that time as well.
Although the stated reason was because of cognitive decline.
Q And what does that mean?
A That meant that she was really not able to
participate in therapy in that point. She apparently was
giving short answers and just she felt she couldn't continue
to participate and couldn't justify continuing therapy.
Q Short answers meaning that maybe she could
answer yes or no to a question but she couldn't generate any
other kind of response?
A Couldn't generate and that could be mental or
physical.
Q And is there any indication why there was a
period from July -- now, I don't have these things in front
of me here. I don't recollect the last date you actually
saw Eleanor prior to December of 2003.
A July 14th.
Q Is there any reason why you would not have
seen Eleanor between July 14th, 2003, and December 8th,
2003?
A Yes. I serve as a consultant. And if a
person it doing well mentally, usually we're not asked to
come back to see them other than to review meds
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periodically. So that's not necessarily unusual.
Q And when you would meet with Eleanor, the two
occasions you met with her, was that to provide treatment or
just to monitor her medications?
A To monitor medications and make
recommendations in regards to treatment.
Q Okay. And what treatment was being provided
other than medications?
A The therapy by the therapist.
Q But the therapy stopped in July because she
could not no longer benefitted from it?
A That's correct.
Q When you met with Eleanor Coolidge in May
2003, did you do any kind of mental status examination?
A Yes, I did.
Q And what did you check in terms of your
mental status examination?
A Primarily I checked her for her orientation,
and at that time I noted she was not oriented to time. And,
of course, that was May; and she said the date was
September. I also check mental status for things like
depression, psychotic problems which, of course, she has
she has not suffered from psychotic problems. But she has
suffered from significant depression.
Q When you say suffered from significant
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depression, what's the difference between that and just
depression?
A She had been actually severely depressed
enough that apparently she was hospitalized at one time in
the past and has had ongoing treatment for what we call
major depression.
Q And was it a chronic depression that she
suffered from
A Chronic recurring.
THE COURT: You need to let Mr. Thomas finish
the question. What was the question?
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Is it a chronic depression that she suffered
from?
A Yes, chronic recurring depression.
Q Now -- and following the May 2003 visit with
Eleanor, when is the next time you saw her?
A July 2003.
Q Did you do any kind of mental status
examination at that time?
A Yes. And on that date, she was actually
oriented to the month where as she was not on the previous
visit.
Q Well, was she fully oriented?
A She was oriented to the month, but she wasn't
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sure how old she was.
Q Okay. So in terms of -- did you do any other
mental status examination other than orientation?
A Again, evaluated her as far as her mood and
those types of things.
Q Did you do any
A Monitoring for her depression.
Q Did you do any memory or recall testing with
her?
A Not other than asking some general questions.
She told me about her husband who had died and his age when
he died and spoke about the marriage and some of those types
of general questions that can use as a way of evaluating
memory.
Q How would you describe her speech during the
times that you met with her?
A I don't note in my notes -- unless I review
them -- that there was a specific problem with her speech
until the last occasion.
Q Let me ask you a question. Other than your
notes, do you have any recollection of Eleanor Coolidge?
A Yes.
Q How many patients do you see a day?
A It varies. Anywhere from 15 to 30.
Q A day?
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A Yes.
Q And is that five days a week?
A Four days a week.
Q Four days a week. And for how many years
have you been doing that?
A Well, I've been doing psychiatry now for --
I've been in this job with Philhaven for six years, a little
over six years. Prior to that I had been in a state
hospital for also six years, and previous to that I was in
family medicine so --
Q So for the past 6 years you have been seeing
15 to 20 patients a day?
A Yes. And initially was working five days a
week. But for the last two years I have been doing four
days a week.
Q Well, what do you remember about her speech
that you can articulate here?
A I don't remember a particular problem with
speech up until the time of my December 8th visit when she
had much more difficulty speaking and was harder to
understand.
Q And describe her speech on December 8th,
2003?
A I just remember that it was very difficult to
understand her, but she was understandable and was coherent.
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But you had to make an effort. It was soft and very quiet,
and she seemed to have to make more effort to speak.
Q What was her rate of speech? Was she able to
speak at a normal progression of thoughts, or was there some
time lapse?
A There was some time lag, and she was slow in
her speech.
Q What about her thinking process? Was she
able to think at a normal rate of thinking, or was there a
time lag there as well?
A There was a time lag.
Q So when would you ask a question, there was a
time lag to the answer?
A Yes. Not a great time lag but there was a
time lag. She was slow from what you normally would expect.
Q Did you attempt to do any abstract reasoning
or testing of her mental abilities on December the 8th?
A I did not do any abstract testing.
Q What would abstract testing --
A Abstract--
THE COURT: You need to let Mr. Thomas finish
the question or it won't make any sense. What's the
question?
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q What would be the benefit of doing abstract
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testing?
A Abstract testing would be like interpreting
proverbs to see thinking ability.
Q To determine her ability to think logically
and clearly?
A Not necessarily logically but to abstract.
Q Did you conduct any tests on December the 8th
that would have helped you to determine whether or not at
that time she had been thinking logically?
A Yes. I checked some things in regards to
memory, and I was actually surprised on December 8th in that
cognitively she was the best I had seen her. She was
completely oriented to person, place, and time which would
have meant she was fully oriented to the year and date which
I must admit surprised me a bit because that was not
consistent with previous examinations.
She was also fairly alert despite her
struggles physically and her difficulty talking. She
remembered what we were there for and was in -- was able to
describe a bit why we were doing the -- changing the will.
Q Did you ask her all those questions to
describe all of that?
A Yes.
Q Do you have her responses written down there
in your notes?
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A I have the general summary of the responses
and that she was alert and oriented. I can start here. She
was alert and fully oriented to person, place, and time.
Her recent and remote recall seemed intact. She was fully
aware what she wanted to do and had been consistent in that
desire.
She said her mood was good. She was able to
spell the -- this is a test of concentration and attention.
She was able to spell the word world both forward and
backward -- which is a common mental status check without
difficulty. She also showed no psychotic symptoms.
Q Did you conduct a complete mental status
examination of her?
A I would say I conducted a complete
qualitative one. I did not do, like, the mini mental status
examination.
Q How long did you on December the 8th -- let
me ask you this. How did you -- who was present with you
when you when you met with Eleanor on December the 8th?
A It was Mrs. Coolidge and her attorney and
myself.
Q And how long did you actually spend with
Eleanor Coolidge during that time?
A I think the time that I spent with her was
probably 10 or 15 minutes.
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Q And that would have been the time that you
spent with her including the execution of the will?
A The execution of the will might have been a
bit more but not much more.
Q All right. So you spent 10 or 15 minutes
with her conducting your examination. And then what
happened after you completed your examination?
A After I completed my examination, then her
attorney took over and asked her if she wanted to go ahead
with signing the will.
Q And did he read the will to her at that time?
A I can't recall if it was read to her or not.
Q Did she read the will?
A She had a copy of it. I don't recall if she
read it completely or not. She -- I don't know.
Q I'm going to show you Petitioner's Exhibit
No.4. Can you identify that document?
Yes.
What is it?
It looks like the will of Eleanor Coolidge.
Okay. And would you look at the number of
A
Q
A
Q
pages there?
A
Q
A
Three and a little bit more.
And are they on legal-sized pages?
Yes, they are.
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Q And are they single-spaced typewritten?
A Except for double spacing between paragraphs.
Q And if I understand you correctly, you were
with Eleanor Coolidge for 10 to 15 minutes doing your
examine and it was just a bit more until she was able to
sign that document?
A Yes.
Q Could Eleanor Coolidge have read that
document in just a couple of minutes?
A No.
Q Can you testify with reasonable psychiatric
certainty that Eleanor Coolidge could have read that
document and fully comprehended it?
A In that time?
Q At that time.
A No, not in the time that we were with her.
Q Do you recall her attorney going over that
will in detail with her in terms of each paragraph and what
it meant?
A I recall him going over it. I don't recall
him going over it in detail with each paragraph.
Q Was Eleanor Coolidge on December 8th, 2003,
mentally capable of understanding the contents of that will?
A I believe she could have understood most of
the contents of that will.
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Q Did anything happen while you were present
with her on December 8th, 2003, that would have demonstrated
that she understood the contents of that will, the entire
contents of it?
A I couldn't comment on entire contents. I
note the attorney did ask her if she felt she understood the
will and what she wanted to make the changes about and she
indicated she did.
Q But there wasn't any discussion as to what
those changes were?
A I don't recall the specifics of that
discussion.
Q Did you during the course of your examination
ascertain the value of Eleanor Coolidge's estate?
A I did not.
Q Did you discuss at any length with Eleanor
Coolidge who the natural objects of her bounty would be for
estate planning purposes?
A No, I did not.
MR. THOMAS: I have no further questions,
Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Flower.
MR. FLOWER: I only have a few, Your Honor,
because we have the videotaped disposition.
THE COURT: Well, are you both in agreement
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that the videotaped disposition will be submitted into
evidence?
MR. THOMAS: Yes.
THE COURT: And Mr. Frey also?
MR. FREY: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right.
CROSS EXAMINATION
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q I just wanted to be clear, Dr. Myers, do you
have any recollection of Mr. Frey discussing the changes or
the gist of the change of the will?
A Yes, I do recall him discussing the gist of
changes?
Q What does he say as you recall?
A It's more than a year ago, and I just
remember him particularly wondering if she was sure she
wanted to eliminate her daughter from the will.
Q Okay.
A I remember that part. The other parts I'm
not clear on.
Q Do you think she understood that what she was
signing was a will?
A Oh, yes. There's no question about that.
Q You indicated that you were surprised on
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December 8th that she was better than she was before?
A That's correct.
Q Had there been any change in her treatment or
anything else that might explain that?
A Yes, there were exchanges in medication. I
think the first time that she was assessed not by me but by
my partner she was severely depressed which was in the
spring of 2003. And there is a condition called pseudo
dementia where people appear to have dementia but they're
actually depressed.
And when the depression is treated or
improves, the dementia often will clear and will improve as
well. So that plus the changes we recommended in her
medications I think might have accounted for some of that.
Q At the beginning you indicated that you are a
geriatric psychiatrist. How is that different from being a
psychiatrist generally?
A It primarily means I focus on taking care of
elderly people.
Q That's what you said you've done for the last
six years?
A That's correct.
MR. FLOWER: No further questions at this
time, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey any questions?
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MR. FREY: No questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Thomas.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q You were present for the testimony of
Dr. Jurgensen?
A Yes, I was.
Q And you heard his testimony about the
bilateral grasp reflex?
A Yes.
Q And -- but are you testifying here that it's
possible Eleanor was only pseudo dementia?
A No, I think she had a dementia. I don't
think her dementia was as severe as we initially thought it
was and that Dr. Jurgensen thought it was on his initial
evaluation.
Q And you base that on what?
A The fact that normally a dementia,
particularly an Alzheimer's type dementia, will progress
steadily where other types of dementia do not necessarily
progress steadily. For example, stroke dementia can remain
very stable. Dementias related to some other neurological
diseases like Parkinson's disease progress at different
rates in different people. So it's a very individualized
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1 thing how quickly a dementia will progress.
2 Q Do you disagree with his diagnosis that as of
3 April 30, 2003, she was severely demented?
4 A No, I don't disagree; but I do think her
5 dementia did change and improved which is surprising because
6 it's not the usual course but can happen. And we see it
7 happen again particularly with things like depression,
8 severe depression.
9 MR. THOMAS: I have no further questions,
10 Your Honor.
11 MR. FLOWER: No further questions, Your
12 Honor.
13 THE COURT: Mr. Frey?
14 MR. FREY: No questions.
15 THE COURT: All right. You may step down.
16 Thank you. Why don't we take a mid afternoon recess for
17 about 10 minutes, and then we will resume.
18 Mr. Flower, do you want Dr. Myers to
19 remain?
20 MR. FLOWER: I would be happy to excuse
21 Dr. Myers.
22 Mr. Thomas asked me if we will stipulate
23 with the medical records Dr. Myers had.
24 MR. THOMAS: Those are the only ones you
25 have, correct?
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DR. MYERS: These are copies of the records
at the office.
MR. THOMAS:
DR. MYERS:
MR. FLOWER:
THE COURT:
Can we mark them?
Sure.
Why don't we.
I'll let you work this out, and
we'll take a recess.
(A recess was taken.)
THE COURT: Mr. Thomas.
MR. THOMAS: I could call Dr. Joseph Brazel,
Your Honor.
JOSEPH F. BRAZEL, M.D.,
having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Dr. Brazel, will you state your name and
spell your last name for the record, please?
A Joseph F. Brazel, B-R-A-Z-E-L.
Q And what is your professional address?
A 220 Wilson Street, Carlisle.
Q And what is your profession?
A I'm an -- I practice internal medicine in
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Carlisle.
Q And how long have you been practicing
internal medicine?
A In Carlisle?
Q Yes.
A Almost 33 years.
MR. THOMAS: I believe counsel would again
stipulate that Dr. Brazel is an expert in the field of
internal medicine.
MR. FLOWER: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey?
MR. FREY: No objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Dr. Brazel, in your occupation as a doctor,
did you have occasion to treat Eleanor Coolidge?
A Yes, sir.
Q And in what capacity did you provide
treatment for her?
A As her primary care physician from July of
'80 to the time of her death in March of --
THE COURT: From July of '82?
THE WITNESS: '80, 1980 until her death in
March of '04.
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BY MR. THOMAS:
Q And I believe you would have extensive
records for the treatment that you provided to her over the
years?
A Yes, sir.
Q Do you have those records with you?
A Yes, sir.
Q During the time that you treated Eleanor, did
there corne a time when you met with Eleanor and her son Torn
to discuss a power of attorney?
A Never -- to the best of my knowledge, I don't
believe we ever met in terms of the discussing the
development of a power of attorney. But it was suggested as
we do to all our patients because in approximately -- you
know, too it began to become apparent that her health was
failing and she would need someone to help her with health
decisions. But I do not remember a specific occasion. I
just cannot remember that.
Q Would you take a look at your records for
November 2002, please?
A Sure. Yes, sir.
Q Did you see any notations in there where you
would have discussed with Eleanor the need to have her son
appointed as a power of attorney?
A No, sir.
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Q And you don't recall having a specific
conversation with her about --
A
I do not. But it
again, there were times
when I discussed with her alone the need for it. But I did
not notate it because her health began to fail in '02.
Q Did you treat Eleanor for depression during
the time she was a patient of yours?
A I was never the treating physician.
Physicians in Chambersburg and previous to that physicians
in Harrisburg and then later the group at Green Ridge
Village in Newville took care of treating her depression.
We would only on occasion refill a prescription for her, but
I was never the prescribing physician.
Q As her family doctor and primary care
physician, were you aware that she suffered from depression?
A Yes, sir.
Q And over how long a period of time did she
suffer from that?
A It preceded my first meeting with
Mrs. Coolidge in July of -- in the year 1980.
Q So this would have been a longstanding
A Yes. I can give you what -- what she told
me. Just a second. In the '60s.
Q In the '60s --
A Yes.
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Q
is when it would have started?
A Yes. I forget her psychiatrist's name in
Harrisburg. He is deceased at present.
Q And she was taking medication for her
depression say going through the 1990s and on up until the
time she died?
A Yes, sir.
Q Were there times when the medication would
have been changed?
A Yes, sir.
Q What would have necessitated a change in the
medication?
A Well, the appearance on the scene of the
improved drugs and, actually, the disappearance from the
market of an agent that Mrs. Coolidge was taking under the
guidance of her psychiatrist in Harrisburg. There are a
group of drugs I believe no longer available. They're
called Mono Amine Oxidase Inhibitors.
THE COURT: Could you spell that?
THE WITNESS: M-O-N-O, Amine A-M-I-N-E,
Oxidase O-X-I-D-A-S-E. And she was -- she stopped taking
those when they no longer were available; and she went on
newer agents.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q During the last several years that you
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treated Eleanor, were there times when she would exhibit
suicidal ideations?
A Yes, sir.
Q Did you ever have her hospitalized as a
result of that?
A
I
most recent one I can remember prior to
her near the end of her life was December of '02 was very
severe at that time. And her son took her to Chambersburg
Hospital where she was treated by Dr. Haggerty. This is
after the time we lost all psychiatric services here in town
and that was the only service available to us, and she was
hospitalized there in December of '02.
THE COURT: Which son are you referring to?
THE WITNESS: Torn. Thomas. I'm sorry. It
was actually, it was -- I misspoke. It was November '02
and then again in December '02.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Did -- did you participate in any discussions
about Eleanor's need to move into an assisted living
facility?
A It became apparent I believe in '02 to all
that were caring for her including her son, Eleanor, and
myself that she would need help and that we advised her also
to go to, I guess, what we call personal care area at the
Green Ridge Nursing Home for the socialization effect also.
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She was alone after the death of her husband,
and I cannot remember exactly when Warren passed away. She
was extremely lonely. Her minister also recommended it very
strongly and discussed it with me whenever he would see me
about trying to get her to go there for the socialization
effect.
Q What about -- was she impaired in terms of
dally functioning?
A Yes. Progressive. Slow and progressive.
Q And did -- do your notes or do you recall her
making any comments to you about her inability to care for
herself in terms of shopping, preparing food, and things of
that nature?
A Yes. I -- I remember her talking about that;
and I cannot remember the exact time when she entered the
nursing home personal care unit. It would have been to the
best of my knowledge sometime in '03 after the -- either
late '02 or early '03.
Q Did you continue to treat her after she went
to Green Ridge Village?
A Yes. Yes.
Q Where did your meetings with her take place?
A In our office.
Q All of them in your office?
A Yes. Her son would bring her to the office.
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Q Okay. And you would make notations. Would
any of those notations go back to Green Ridge Village
Nursing Home?
A Yes. To the best of my knowledge, I believe
they did.
Q Now, you previously testified by videotape.
Do you recall that?
A Yes, sir.
Q And do you recall when you testified on
videotape you made several references to a -- a -- that it
was your understanding that Eleanor had a poor relationship
with her daughter?
A She would so state.
Q Would you make notations of those kinds of
things in your record?
A No, sir.
Q Okay. Would you take a look at your February
14th record of 2002. Specifically, I'd like to direct your
attention below where the date is stamped below where you
have the vital signs.
A Right. Eleanor was alluding to the fact that
she felt she was being treated terribly by certain members
of her family.
Q And specifically it says Tom and wife?
A Right. And that was her expression. There
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was no physical appearance of any bad treat treatment. She
just mentioned it.
THE COURT: Who did she say was mistreating
her?
THE WITNESS: Torn and wife.
THE COURT: I see. All right.
THE WITNESS: At that time, she was suffering
from terrible depression again; and it was recommended that
she seek admission to Chambersburg Hospital at that time as
she was doing very poorly from her depression.
THE COURT: And when was that?
THE WITNESS: December 14th, '02, 2 years
ago.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q February 14th, '02, correct?
A February. I'm sorry.
Q But would it be accurate for me to say -- anc
you can look through your records. I've already looked
through them. But nowhere in your records is there a notion
of any strained relationship between Eleanor Coolidge and
her daughter; is that correct?
A No. I do not recall because Eleanor
Eleanor suffered from severe depression. She would be
part of the depression would be severe negativity. And she
was rather negative about everything especially after the
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death of her husband. It all worsened.
Q Now, could you look at your notes. Did there
come a time when you made a medical decision that Eleanor
was in total need of assistance with regard to her
medications and her business affairs? And again, I want to
direct your attention to the events around November,
December of 2003.
A Oh, definitely by November 13th, '03, she
needed total care really for the rest of her life at the
nursing home. And she was extremely -- well -- I mean,
again, there was never any evidence of anyone mistreating
Miss Coolidge.
It was her own statement that she said she
was being terribly cared for. I'm sure
I have know idea
what it meant; but it was not -- there was never any
evidence of mistreatment. And she was always extremely well
cared for by the people at the nursing home as well as when
she was at her home.
Q I understand. But my question had to do
with --
A November of '03 she needed total care.
Q With not just her medication but her business
affairs?
A I can't speak to that, sir. I am not
knowledgeable enough about her -- how complex her business
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affairs are. But she needed care in an institution to
control her medication, her diet
Q What's written
A Excuse me?
Q What's written in your note there for
November 13th?
A And Tom takes care of power of attorney which
I guess would mean he would take care of her business
matters. I believe he was appointed power of attorney the
year before, December of '02.
Q All right. But you met with Eleanor on
November 13th, 2003?
A Yes. Yes, sir.
Q And at that point, was it your opinion that
she needed total care not just of her medication but of her
business affairs as well?
A Definitely of her medications and I would
think her business affairs too. But I have no idea how
complicated her business affairs were. I did not know
anything about her own personal affairs, financial, etc.
But she needed someone to take care of her medications, her
meals, prevent her from falling. And it became very evident
that she was heading to total inpatient skilled nursing
care.
Q Had her degenerative brain disease continued
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to show decline over the year 2003?
A Interestingly, she -- in May of '03 is when
we began to treat her with the medication Aricept. And as
Dr. Myers you may remember mentioned he noticed there was a
period when she actually improved during the period from May
through November, December.
And that is the typical short term -- sadly
effect that one sees with the use of drugs such as
Aricept for Alzheimer'S dementia. And Eleanor did have an
improvement during the period of May; but then in November,
December, it became obvious that she was again failing.
THE COURT: What was that medication?
THE WITNESS: Excuse me?
THE COURT: What was that medication.
THE WITNESS: A-R-I-C-E-P-T.
THE COURT: What's that do?
THE WITNESS: It's a drug that helps restore
concentrations of another chemical called acetyl-choline --
A-C-E-T-Y-L dash C-H-O-L-I-N-E -- in the frontal lobes of
the brain that's involved with cognition and thinking.
Sadly, we don't have any medications today
that restore these problems to normal; but often you can
help people for short term periods, six or seven months and
hopefully keep them out of skilled nurse home facilities by
the use of these. And then later that year and then in the
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following year, she progressed. And then her death was
precipitated by probably 2 major strokes in March of '04.
MR. THOMAS: No further questions.
THE COURT: Mr. Flower.
CROSS EXAMINATION
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q Dr. Brazel, you indicated that
Mrs. Coolidge
A Right.
Q -- told you from time to time that -- that
she had problems with her daughter Julia?
A Yes, sir.
Q How far back do those conversations go?
A I cannot speak accurately, but I would say
many years.
Q Would that be five, six or decades?
A I would say a decade.
Q Okay. And in what context would you have
those conversations? Would that be an office visit?
A Yes, sir.
Q And how often during office visits would she
complain about Julia?
A Frequently.
Q Frequently.
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A The complaints generally were typically of
parents of children not following their commands or desires.
And I'm sure my mother spoke similar about me.
Q Your attention was called to an office note
at which Mrs. Coolidge was critical of Tom and his wife.
And I'm not going to call your attention to that. I'm just
going to ask if that's typical about what Mrs. Coolidge said
about Tom?
A No. Absolutely not.
Q What would be typical?
A Very, very laudatory. Tom would always be
the one who would bring her to the office when she couldn't
make it or getting her prescriptions or taking her to see
people for care of any problems and things such as that in
Camp Hill. Of course, it was proximity to his mother. I
believe they were neighbors.
MR. FLOWER: Nothing further, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey.
MR. FREY: No questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Thomas.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Dr. Brazel, you made several notations in
your records that Eleanor had difficulty with her
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daughter-in-law, Tom's wife Bev, did you not?
A I can't remember sir, I'm sorry.
Q I'd like to direct your attention to the
entry dated August 28th, 1992, and the entry dated December
6th, 1995. Do you have them in front of you?
A Say again, sir. What?
Q August 28th, 1992, and December 6th, 1995.
THE COURT:
MR. THOMAS:
Are you referring to an exhibit?
That will be Petitioner's
Exhibit No.8, Your Honor, consisting of 2 pages of exerts
from Dr. Brazel's medical report records.
THE WITNESS: I do not have anything for
December 6th, 1995. I'm sorry, sir. Honestly, sir, I
cannot find that, sir, August of '82.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Let me show you Petitioner's Exhibit --
A I'm sorry. I found it. She just mentioned
that -- we went over her blood tests and things with her.
And she stated she was having stress relations with her
daughter-in-law --
Q What date is that?
A August 28th, '82.
Q Ninety-two?
A You said '82, did you not, sir. I'm sorry.
Did I mishear you?
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Q Yeah. What do you have for --
A I have '82 she just mentioned she was having
some stress with her daughter-in-law.
Q What about August of '92?
A I'm sorry. The printing was poor. It was
'92. I misread it. It's fading. August of '92 we went
over her blood tests and she stayed on her same medications
and she mentioned she was having some stress with her
daughter-in-law. And since, be honest with you, it wasn't
affecting my relationship with Eleanor or her medications or
her illnesses, I did not pursue it further as it was none of
my business.
Q Now take a look at December 6th, 1995.
A She at that time was having more anxiety
attacks, and she mentions that she was having difficulties
with their new minister or her minister and with her
daughter-in-law.
Q Okay.
A But in the sense of her psychological
problems, she was having problems probably with many people.
Q All right. So you did make notations at
times when Eleanor would complain about certain people?
A Right.
MR. THOMAS: I have no other questions, Your
Honor.
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THE COURT: Okay.
MR. FLOWER: Nothing further, Your Honor.
Just for the record this is one of the two doctors that we
have a full videotaped deposition of which we will be
presenting on Thursday.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Frey, do you have
any questions?
8
MR. FREY: I have no questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Okay. You may step down. Thank
you.
MR. FLOWER: May we excuse Dr. Brazel?
MR. THOMAS : Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey, do you have any
objection with Dr. Brazel being excused?
MR. FREY: No objection.
THE COURT: You are excused. Thank you.
MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, at this time I would
call Dr. Robert Wettstein.
ROBERT WETTSTEIN, M.D.,
having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
ON QUALIFICATIONS
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Dr. Wettstein, would you state your name and
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spell your last name for the record, please?
A Yes, it's Robert Wettstein,
W-E-T-T-S-T-E-I-N.
Q And Dr. Wettstein, what is your professional
address?
A 401 Shady Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206.
Q And what is your profession?
A I'm u physician and psychiatrist.
Q Are you licensed to practice psychiatry in
Pennsylvania?
A
I'm licensed to practice medicine
Yes.
actually, but I practice psychiatry.
Q And when were you licensed?
A 1984.
Q Where did you attend undergraduate school?
A Johns Hopkins.
Q And where did you attend medical school?
A UCLA.
Q When did you graduate from medical school?
A 1976.
Q And where did you intern?
A In Detroit at Wayne State University in the
Department of Medicine.
Q Dr. Wettstein, I want to show you what I have
marked as Petitioner's Exhibit No.9. Can you identify that
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document, please?
A It's a copy of my resume or curriculum vitae
from 2004.
MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, I would move for the
admission of Petitioner's Exhibit No.9.
THE COURT: Mr. Flower?
MR. FLOWER: No objection to admission of the
curriculum vitae.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey?
MR. FREY: No objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Petitioner's Exhibit
9 is admitted.
MR. THOMAS: And I would submit this to the
Court.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Do you have a specialty?
A Yes.
Q And what is that specialty?
A Psychiatry and forensic psychiatry.
Q And could you briefly explain the difference
between psychiatry and forensic psychiatry?
A Well, psychiatry is the specialty of medicine
that deals with diseases of the mind and diseases of the
brain. Forensic psychiatry is a subspecialty of psychiatry
as say pediatric pulmonolgy is a subspecialty of pediatrics.
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Some psychiatrists specialize in a certain area of practice
whether it's children or geriatrics or forensics.
Q And what is forensic psychiatry?
A Forensic psychiatry is the part of psychiatry
that deals with legal issues and problems.
Q Okay. And do you have any certifications in
that area?
A I do.
Q And what are they?
A I have board certification in general adult
psychiatry and also board certification in forensic
psychiatry.
Q And what kind of work do you do as a forensic
psychiatrist?
A I do evaluations for courts, attorneys, and
agencies in a variety of areas. Sometimes they're civil
cases such as this one. Lots of times they are criminal
cases. I also do teaching related to forensic psychiatry.
Q And where do you do your teaching?
A I'm a clinical professor of psychiatry at the
University of Pittsburgh, so I teach in the medical school.
I teach individual classes to residents, sometimes to
medical students, also to law students and graduate students
in psychology.
Q Do you belong to any professional groups?
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A Yes.
Q Would you name a few of the groups that you
belong to?
A The American Psychiatric Association is our
national psychiatry group. I'm a member also of a national
forensic psychiatry organization called the American Academy
of Psychiatry and the Law.
Q Have you ever held any positions with the
American Academy of Psychiatry and Law?
A Yes.
Q And what positions have you held?
A I was president of the organization until
this last year.
Q Have you published any articles or books on
forensic psychiatry?
A Yes.
Q And are they listed in your curriculum vitae?
A Yes, they are.
Q Have you ever testified previously as a
forensic psychiatrist?
A Yes, I have.
Q In Pennsylvania?
A Yes.
Q What counties have you testified as a
forensic psychiatrist?
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A Mostly in western Pennsylvania counties,
sometimes north in Erie. I've been in Philadelphia. I
testified in federal court in the Western District,
sometimes in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. I've
testified in West Virginia and Ohio, Illinois, Indiana,
Florida, and Texas.
MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, at this time, I
would submit Dr. Wettstein as an expert in the area of
forensic psychiatry and psychiatry generally.
MR. FLOWER: I just have a couple questions
if I may, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Certainly.
8
CROSS EXAMINATION
ON QUALIFICATIONS
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q Dr. Wettstein, what percentage of your time
do you spend in litigation related work?
A I spend -- I have a clinical practice of
psychiatry. I spend about 2 days of the week, about 40
percent of my time treating patients. I have a treatment
practice in my office. The rest of the time I do either
litigation work or consulting work or writing. So some of
the work I do is related to litigation and some isn't.
Q About what percentage of your income comes
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from your testimony as an expert witness?
A Most of it.
Q Can you -- is that 51 percent; or is it
larger than that?
A Yes, it's larger than that. Clinical income
is less than my forensic income.
Q So it might be 60, 70 percent?
A Yes.
Q Might be 80 percent?
A Might be.
MR. FLOWER: No objection to this witness as
a forensic psychiatrist.
THE COURT: No objection to what?
MR. FLOWER: To his acceptance as an expert,
Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Frey.
MR. FREY: No objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Thomas.
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q In your previous testimony as an expert, you
mentioned criminal cases. Is there one particular side that
you usually testify for?
A No. I don't have any allegiances or biases
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about that. I'm retained by the defense in many cases; and
other situations I'm retained by prosecution.
Q And is it the same with civil cases,
sometimes retained by plaintiff's attorneys and other times
by defense attorney?
A That's right.
Q Were you requested to review some medical
records and conduct interviews regarding Eleanor U. Coolidge
with respect to a will dated December 8th, 2003?
A Yes.
Q And what was your reasoning or reasons for
reviewing these records and conducting these interviews?
A The purpose of my evaluation was to determine
whether I could reach an opinion as to her testamentary
capacity in December of 2003 and whether she suffered from
an -- a weakened intellect and was susceptible to undue
influence at that time.
Q What did you do to investigate those two
issues?
A I reviewed as many records as I had available
to me at the time and those included hospital psychiatric
records from Chambersburg Hospital from 2002, her medical
records from the Green Ridge Personal Care Home from 2002 to
2003. I reviewed Dr. Jurgensen's neurology consultation
records from 2003. I reviewed the Philhaven Outpatient
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Psychiatric records from 2003.
I reviewed Dr. Brazel's primary care
physician records over the period of 24 years. And then I
reviewed some legal documents that had occurred such as
transcripts of depositions by Dr. Myers and Dr. Brazel,
transcript of a deposition here in November of 2003 with
regard to a purported guardianship petition.
THE COURT: Was that a deposition or a
hearing?
THE WITNESS: That was a hearing transcript.
THE COURT: All right.
THE WITNESS: I reviewed the signed will froIT
December 8th, 2003; and then I conducted 3 telephone
interviews as part of this evaluation.
BY MR. THOMAS:
Q Did you attempt to interview Thomas Coolidge?
A I did.
Q Okay. And were you able to interview him?
A No, I was not. When I prepared my report,
you told me that Mr. Coolidge was in Europe and wasn't
available.
Q Dr. Wettstein, I'm showing you what I've just
had marked as Petitioners Exhibit No. 10. Can you identify
that?
A Yes, it's a copy of the report that I
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prepared as part of my evaluation in this matter.
Q And in that report, you identified the
sources you just testified to?
A I do.
Q Now, with regard to the issues that you were
asked to evaluate with regard to Eleanor U. Coolidge, were
you able to come to an opinion with regard to Eleanor's
testamentary capacity on December 8, 2003?
A I was not, no.
Q And why is it that you were unable to reach
an opinion in that -- on that issue?
A Well, there are several reasons for that
inability. First of which is, of course, I never met
Eleanor or evaluated her and didn't have the opportunity to
be there at the time that she executed this will. That's
the most important reason.
Beyond that, I -- that is not necessarily a
fatal issue because I have in other cases been able to reach
testamentary capacity opinions on deceased individuals whom
I never interviewed before only when you can reconstruct
enough information about their mental condition at the time
that they executed their will.
So sometimes I look at a videotape of their
functioning or have detailed neuropsychological testing of a
person at the time the will was executed or a lot of
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detailed information about their functioning. In this case,
none of that information was really available to me.
I was able to look at the medical records and
the psychiatric records and review the opinions of
Dr. Brazel and Dr. Myers regarding this particular matter.
But I did not have enough information for me to be able to
say either way whether I thought Eleanor had adequate
testamentary capacity.
Q Did you -- I believe you testified that you
looked at the notes that were generated by Dr. Herbert Myers
from his examination of Eleanor on December 8th, 2003?
A I did.
Q And you also had the opportunity to review
the transcript of his videotaped deposition; is that right?
A I didn't -- I saw the transcript of his
deposition, yes.
Q And you also were present today when
Dr. Myers testified; is that correct?
A I was.
Q Based on the notes generated by Dr. Myers as
well as his testimony here in court to today, do you take
issue with Dr. Myers testimony that Eleanor had testamentary
capacity on December 8th, 2003?
A I do.
Q Could you explain to the Court why you would
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1 take issue with that?
2 A Yes. And the issue has to do with the method
3 that he employed in this particular case. He was a treating
4 psychiatrist who had met Eleanor on 2 brief previous
5 occasions, the earlier one of which had been in July of
6 2003. He then returns to visit with her on December 8th,
7 2003, to witness this will.
8 It is unclear to me whether he was a treating
9 doctor at that point or examining or forensic doctor at that
10 point. But he spent, in any case, a very brief amount of
11 time with her, 10, 15, 20 minutes to do an evaluation and to
12 witness the will.
13 And that is a grossly inadequate amount of
14 time to try to do any kind of evaluation of someone in this
15 situation. We know that she had been demented or had been
16 diagnosed as demented at least in April and had significant
17 cognitive problems.
18 So it was known that she was not a mentally
19 healthy individual. She had a psychiatric history. She had
20 been in a psychiatric hospital for three occasions in a
21 previous year. She had a complicated psychiatric history,
22 and he had not been the previous treating doctor.
23 So he would not have necessarily been
24 intimately familiar with all of those problems. So the
25 amount of time that he spent with her was deficient. The
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particular method he used was to talk with her briefly about
the will, to check with her about orientation and her memory
and her speech. But there was no formal testing done, no
quantitative testing done, no in depth examination done at
all.
When we evaluate someone's testamentary
capacity, we want to explore in detail what they understand
as to the provisions of the will, the provisions of any
changes that have been made, why changes are made, who the
natural objects are of their inheritance, all the related
aspects of wills. And as I heard today, he did not explore
those with her at the time.
Q With regard to the second issue that you were
asked to examine and that being the weakened intellect or
the susceptibility of Eleanor U. Coolidge to undue influence
in the preparation and then signing that will, have you
reached an opinion?
A Yes.
Q
And the
what is the opinion that you have?
A My opinion in this particular area is that
she was, in fact, susceptible to undue influence as of the
time that she executed this will in December of 2003.
Q And what would be the basis for that opinion?
A Well, there are several bases for that
opinion. And, of course, the most important one is the fact
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1 that she had a serious cognitive problem with dementia which
2 had been diagnosed previously. And as you heard today from
3 Dr. Jurgensen, this is a progressive condition, not an
4 episodic one. So if it was present in July -- I'm sorry.
5 Strike that.
6 If it was present in April 2003 when
7 Dr. Jurgensen examined her, it was certainly present in
8 December of 2003 at the time this will was executed. So she
9 had a dementia. We don't exactly know the type of it. But
10 it was at least of moderate severity. It wasn't the most
11 severe, and it wasn't the most mild. But it certainly was
12 at least of moderate severity at the time.
13 So she had a weakened intellect which means
14 cognitive impairment such as memory problems, language
15 problems, reasoning problems, judgment problems, the things
16 that -- symptoms that go with dementia she would have had
17 those at the time.
18 In addition to the cognitive problem, she had
19 obviously a long psychiatric history of depression and
20 anxiety. There's a question about whether she had bipolar
21 disorder which is a pretty severe mood disorder. She was
22 described as lonely and bereaved after her husband had died
23 in 2001 and never really recovered from that.
24 Environmental factors are important in
25 examining susceptibility to undue influence. Here she was
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placed in a personal care home somewhat isolated from her
friends. She was elderly. She had medical problems. She
was taking several kinds of medication. She had physical
problems with her arm, getting around.
All these kinds of physical and environmental
factors make her more vulnerable than the rest of us to
influences by other people. I raise the question also about
whether she was at times paranoid. She was certainly
distrustful as we heard about her daughter, even maybe about
Tom.
And when I talked to Julia and I talked to
Mrs. Kollas about this, they both informed me that -- that
Eleanor had at times expressed feelings that Torn had
pressured Eleanor in various respects. Obviously, I never
talked to Eleanor about that. But those were things that
were told to me about how Eleanor was handling external
pressures from Tom at the time.
So that's another issue here as to whether an
individual has ability to resist influences from other
people even prior to the illness. So there are both illness
-- so there are both medical, psychiatric, and environmental
considerations here with regard to being susceptible to
influence by others.
Q You may have mentioned this, and I was
thinking about one thing you said and didn't hear you say
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it. But did you mention the isolation part?
A Yes, I did. I said that, you know, by virtue
of the fact that she was elderly and in a personal care
home, had limited use of the telephone, I believe that's an
important factor in one's ability to maintain oneself in the
community.
Q The opinion that you have expressed with
regard to her suffering from a weakened intellect, is that
an opinion you can state with reasonable forensic
psychiatric certainty?
A Yes.
MR. THOMAS: No other questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Flower.
CROSS EXAMINATION
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q Doctor, were you provided with a copy of the
hearing in this matter of March 29, 2004?
A No, I do not have that transcript.
Q That has testimony of Robert Frey,
Miss Coolidge-Stolz, Mrs. Kollas, Renee Kreamer, and Tom
Coolidge. You don't have that one?
A I don't.
Q And you did not review that for the purpose
of your opinion today?
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A Correct.
Q You raised the issue of bipolar disorder.
Would you direct us to the medical records you reviewed
which provided a diagnosis of bipolar disorder?
A Mr. Thomas has a copy of that page which I
noted from the Green Ridge Village Personal Care Horne which
says bipolar disorder on it.
Q Do you know who made that evaluation?
A It says someone from the Occupational Therapy
Department. That's on there.
Q From the artificial -- from the what?
A Occupational therapy, OT Department put that
on there. I don't know where that carne from.
Q So we don't know if the psychiatrist made
that diagnosis?
A I only see that page where it says bipolar
disorder. I don't know how it carne to be.
Q But in the ordinary conduct of your -- your
practice, you wouldn't rely on this without a diagnosis from
somebody you felt to be qualified, would you?
A No.
Q Okay.
A Not about by itself.
Q On what do you base the conclusion that
Mrs. Coolidge was isolated from her friends?
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A Well, Mrs. Kollas told me that she had few
visits with Eleanor after Eleanor went to the personal care
home in contrast to the frequent visits that had occurred
when she was living at home. And that was because I
understand the personal care home was at some distance -- 11
miles I was told -- from the home. So I think her friends
did not have access to her in the same way they did earlier.
Q Because she was a little further away but not
because her friends were prevented from going to the home?
A That's correct.
Q So you're saying that not that she was
deliberately isolated but it may have been a little more
awkward or inconvenient for people to visit her?
A Well, isolated is simply a description. She
was apart from her friends. She was not in as much contact
with them after she went to the person care home as before.
Q You distinguish that from a deliberate
isolation, someone causing it on purpose?
A Well, I certainly couldn't address that. I
don't know who would have done that.
Q You indicated that you feel that she may have
felt pressured by her son Tom. Do you have any firsthand
knowledge of facts which would lead you to that conclusion?
A Well, I don't have any firsthand knowledge of
anything. Obviously, this is all what's told to me. So
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what Mrs. Kollas told me was that Eleanor had complained to
her that Eleanor felt intimidated by Tom because Eleanor
told her that Tom had gone to Eleanor and asked for money
for his daughter's college tuition, had asked Eleanor to
change her bank accounts for Tom's purposes --
MR. FLOWER: Your Honor, this is
this is
the testimony that I indicated in chambers I would object to
as hearsay.
THE COURT: Well, you asked the question as
to what the basis for his opinion was, I think. So in terms
of that, it's permissible testimony. I certainly can't
accept these -- the hearsay as factual unless it's supported
otherwise. But as a basis for his opinion, I think it's
permissible testimony. Is that satisfactory to all counsel?
MR. THOMAS: Yes, Your Honor.
MR. FLOWER: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Frey?
MR. FREY: No objection, Your Honor.
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q Were you aware that Mrs. Coolidge also had
childhood friends which were also at Green Ridge?
A No.
Q Do you have any idea as to the frequency of
her visits in the setting at the nursing home with some of
those childhood friends?
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A (The witness shook his head).
Q Miss Coolidge-Stolz and Miss Kollas didn't
indicate any knowledge that she had childhood friends there?
A No. That -- that wasn't something that we
discussed.
Q And if she did in fact have childhood friends
that she maybe visited with and had dinner with and did
social activities out there that would certainly decrease
the degree of what you perceived as her isolation, would it
not?
A Yes.
Q You indicated that she has weakened intellect
because she has dementia. By your definition, would anyone
who has a diagnosis of dementia have weakened intellect?
A Yes, because that's the definition of
dementia.
Q Now, you indicated that you never met
Mrs. Coolidge, correct?
A Correct.
Q And you haven't had an opportunity to observe
her speech or her conduct?
A Of course not, no.
Q Did you inquire of Mrs. Coolidge-Stolz on
what date and time closest to December 8th, 2003, she last
personally saw or spoke with her mother?
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A She testified about that today.
Q Okay. Was that something you considered in
your opinion?
A As to what issue?
Q As to the issue of the condition that she may
have been on December 8th, 2003?
A I'm not sure -- I don't understand.
Q I'll move on. You indicated that you
reviewed the transcript of Dr. Myers' deposition but did not
review the videotape; is that correct?
A That's right.
Q And did you ever consider interviewing
Dr. Myers, speaking with him about this?
A I considered it. I did, yes.
Q And why did you elect not to interview
Dr. Myers?
A Because Dr. Myers had such limited contact
with Eleanor. If he had been the treating psychiatrist and
had known her intimately, that is something that I would
routinely do. I do call up therapists in litigation cases;
and I say, Tell me about your patient and what's the problem
and how's she doing.
But in this situation with such limited
contact with her and limited records, there wasn't a whole
lot that he would be able to say firsthand other than what's
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in the records.
Q And we certainly acknowledge that you did
request to interview with Mr. Coolidge. But isn't it true
that that request didn't come until a day or so before your
report was due?
A It -- well -- what do you mean by the report
was due?
Q Well, you may be less aware about this than
the litigants; but the report was directed to be completed
and shared by the 15th.
THE COURT: The 15th of what?
MR. FLOWER: The 15th of February 2005.
THE COURT: All right.
THE WITNESS: It was an issue that came up at
the end. Mr. Thomas and I discussed this because I
routinely try to talk to as many people as possible. Even
if they're on an opposing side of the case, I still would
like to hear from people because I want to hear what they
have to say. At that point, Tom was not available.
BY MR. FLOWER:
Q You may not have had this information since
you did not have the transcript of March 29, 2004, but did
you know that Robert Frey was the drafter of the will?
A Yes.
Q And did you know that he testified under
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cross examination in March of 2004?
A Yes, I did.
Q Did you know that before you came here today?
A Mr. Thomas told me that the drafter of the
will did testify in 2004, and I think the issue at that
point or in that area had to do with the autopsy.
Q Well--
A Or maybe there was several different
hearings. I'm not sure.
Q Were you aware that there was a transcript of
March of 2004?
A I was aware there was a 2004 transcript. I
don't know of the date.
Q Did you ask to review that?
A I'm sorry?
Q Did you ask Mr. Thomas to review that?
A We discussed it. I don't remember the
details of how we left that.
Q You never attempted to interview Mr. Frey,
did you?
A No.
Q And why is that?
A I don't know that I have a good answer to
that. This was done rather quickly in terms of the time
period, so I didn't have all the time in the world.
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Q One of the other people who testified in the
hearing in March 2004 was Renee Kreamer who was the
administrator of the assisted living unit at Green Ridge
Village. She testified that she saw Mrs. Coolidge on a
daily basis. Did you know that she testified at that
hearing?
A No.
Q Okay. Did you consider interviewing any of
the staff at Green Ridge Village to get their input?
A I considered it again; but it was hard for me
to identify any particular person who would have, you know,
dealt with her in her regular basis around this set of
issues.
Q Staff there should have been able to identify
somebody who has seen her on a regular basis, couldn't they?
A That's true. But lots of times the people
that would have had daily contact with Eleanor would not
have been professional graduate level people. They're
nurses aides or nursing assistants. And lots of times, with
all due respect, they're not the most helpful people from my
perspective in getting information about someone's condition
a year or two earlier.
Q You reviewed Dr. Brazel's notes, correct?
A Yes.
Q And did you also read the transcript of the
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deposition?
A I did.
Q So that you knew that Dr. Brazel had intimate
knowledge of Mrs. Coolidge over an 18 or so year period?
A Yes.
Q Did you consider interviewing Dr. Brazel?
A I don't think I did, no, because, again, I
tend to focus on the mental health professionals.
Q And witnesses identified for you by
Mr. Thomas such as Miss Coolidge-Stolz and Mrs. Kollas?
A Actually, I interviewed -- I interviewed
those people on my own. Mr. Thomas did not suggest to me
that I interview anybody or not interview anybody. So I
took the initiative of calling Mrs. Kollas and
Mrs. Schweiter and Julia.
Q How did you know of Mrs. Kollas's existence?
A I first talked to Julia. And then she told
me about Mrs. Kollas and Mrs. Schweiter, and then I called
them.
Q You read Dr. Jurgensen's reports?
A Yes.
Q Did you consider contacting Dr. Jurgensen anc
interviewing him?
A Again, I considered it; but he had had just
one visit with her and documented his notes of that visit.
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I thought that was adequate.
Q Do you know that Philip Coolidge is a
co-respondent in this action?
A Yes.
Q Did you ever consider interviewing him?
A I considered it, yes.
Q Was there any particular reason why you did
not interview him?
A I think it was the time pressure here to get
the evaluation done. And my impression was that -- that
Philip was less involved as his brother Tom in Eleanor's
life, at least at the end. So that was the reason I didn't
interview him.
Q Did you speak with anyone who observed
Mr. Coolidge on December 8th, 2003?
A No.
Q Did you speak with anybody who may have
observed her within say a week of that date?
A No.
THE COURT: Do you have many more questions,
Mr. Flower?
MR. FLOWER: I have a few more, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Well, we need to stop at 4:30. I
hate to make this gentlemen come back from Pittsburgh, but
we are in the middle of a major snowstorm. And I don't want
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1 to keep the staff here after hours.
2 MR. FLOWER: I will try and move my questions
3 along.
4 THE COURT: All right.
5 BY MR. FLOWER:
6 Q I think one of the phrases in your report
7 that confused me is that you observed almost as a fact that
8 Miss Coolidge-Stolz does not have a longstanding conflict
9 with her mother. Was that your conclusion?
10 A Could you refer me to a particular place?
11 Q On the last page you say her testimony in
12 November of 2003 that she had had conflict with her daughter
13 since her daughter's birth lacks corroboration and therefore
14 credibility.
15 A I was referring to the hearing transcript
16 where Eleanor says that she had conflict with her daughter
17 since her daughter's birth. I, of course, was not here to
18 hear her say the words or the tone of voice in which she
19 said them; but that strikes me as a psychiatrist as bizarre
20 that a mother who would say she had conflict with her
21 daughter since her daughter's birth.
22 To me, that reflects Eleanor's dementia or
23 mental illness or both. I mean, certainly there was
24 information that we heard about conflict at times which
25 doesn't surprise me although there's conflicting information
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around that. But to say that you had conflict with your
child since your child's birth is just bizarre to me.
Q Or at least an exaggeration?
A No. I don't -- well, certainly it could be
an exaggeration; but just the quality of that sort of remark
is peculiar.
Q You didn't look at Dr. Brazel's deposition
for corroboration?
A Well, I understand that he -- and I heard hirr
today testify about that.
Q And you also did not have access to Renee
Kreamer's testimony on this issue?
A Correct.
THE COURT: I'm sorry. But I need to
interrupt at this point. You may step down. Thank you.
Mr. Thomas, did you want to move the admission of
Petitioner's Exhibits 7, 8, and 10 before we adjourn.
MR. THOMAS: Yes, Your Honor. If I have
already moved for the admission of all the others. If not I
would like to move for the admission of all the exhibits.
THE COURT: I think that they're all admitted
except for those 3. Mr. Flower, do you have any objection
to Petitioner's Exhibits 7, 8, and 10?
MR. FLOWER: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And Mr. Frey?
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1 MR. FREY: No objections, Your Honor.
2 THE COURT: Petitioner's Exhibits, 7, 8, and
3 10 are admitted. And we'll enter this order.
4 AND NOW, this 28th day of February, 2005,
5 following an additional day of hearing in the
6 above-captioned matter and Petitioner's case having not yet
7 been completed, the record shall remain open and the Court
8 will reconvene in this matter on Thursday, March 3, 2005, at
9 9:30 a.m. It is noted that at the time of adjournment on
10 today's date Petitioner's expert witness Dr. Robert
11 Wettstein was being cross-examined by Respondent's counsel
12 James D. Flower, Jr., Esquire. It is further noted that at
13 the time of adjournment on today's date Petitioner's
14 Exhibits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 had been
15 identified and admitted. No other exhibits had been
16 identified or admitted.
17 Court is adjourned.
18 MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, before you adjourn,
19 can I ask that Dr. Wettstein's -- the remainder of his cross
20 examination and any redirect take place by telephone?
21 THE COURT: Mr. Flower, do you have any
22 objection to that?
23 MR. FLOWER: I have to talk that over with my
24 clients, Your Honor.
25 THE COURT: All right. And Mr. Frey, what is
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1 your position on that?
2 MR. FREY: I have no objection.
3 MR. FLOWER: My clients have authorized me to
4 agree.
5 THE COURT: All right. We'll add to that
6 order: It is noted that counsel have agreed that the
7 continuation of Dr. Wettstein's testimony on Thursday, March
8 3, 2005, may be conducted by telephone.
9 Okay. Court is adjourned.
10 ---------
11 (The proceedings adjourned at 4:35 p.m.)
12 ---------
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CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the proceedings are
contained fully and accurately in the notes taken by me on
the above cause and that this is a correct transcript of
same.
~n~
Official Court Reporter
The foregoing record of the proceedings on
the hearing of the within matter is hereby approved and
directed to be filed.
vV12JL.~ 31 ](j~-
Date I
199