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Home My WebLink About05-18-04 IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA IN RE: ESTATE OF ROBERT M. MUMMA, Deceased ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION NO. 21-86-398 MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER :.j ;~ AND NOW, comes ROBERT M. MUMMA II, by his attorneys, MillegLipsitt, LLC who makes the following Motion For Protective Order under Pennsylvlllli.a Rule of Civil Procedure 4012: 1.) ROBERT M. MUMMA, II ("RMMII") as a beneficiary ofthe estate of his late father ROBERT M. MUMMA filed a Petition For Removal of his mother Barbara McK. Mumma and his sister Lisa M. Morgan as Co-executrices of said Decedent's Estate and as Co-Trustees of the Marital and Residuary Trusts created thereunder. 2.) By Order ofthis Court dated March 24, 2004, the Honorable George Hoffer directed that: RMMII's Petition For Removal and any Objections to the estate accounting, the interim accounts of the Marital Trust under Decedent's Will or the interim accounts of the Residuary Trust under Decedent's Will be filed with the Court not later than May 28, 2004. 3.) The Court also ordered that RMMII file a list of potential witnesses and exhibits by May 28, 2004 and that RMMII could be deposed by representatives of Decedent's estate. 4.) On May 6, 2004 the attorneys for Barbara McK. Mununa and Lisa M. Morgan served a "Notice of Deposition Duces Tecum" upon counsel for RMMII, scheduling the deposition ofRMMII for May 19,2004 and requesting that RMMII bring with him to this deposition: (1) "All documents constituting the factual or evidentiary 1 bases for and/or which he intends to offer in support of the allegations set forth in his Petition for Removal of Barbara McK. Mumma and Lisa M. Morgan as Executrices and Trustees (the "Petition").... "; (2) "All documents which he intends to offer into evidence at any hearing on the Petition"; and (3) "Curriculum vitae of any expert witness he intends to call to testify at any hearing on the Petition". A copy of this Notice of Deposition Duces Tecum is attached hereto as Exhibit "A". 5.) As presently framed, the request for all documents constituting the factual or evidentiary basis for the allegations of the Petition is overly broad and incapable of a precise response. Many of the documents that may possibly be responsive to this overly broad request and are discoverable have already been obtained from and/or provided to requesting counsel in the discovery processes of the many related cases dealing with the assets ofthe Decedent's estate. 6.) Counsel for RMMII has not yet decided which exhibits will be offered into evidence at any hearing as the scope and nature of such hearings and the issues factually in dispute and to be decided by said hearings have not yet been clearly defined by the court. Following the scheduling of any such factual hearing the court, counsel for RMMII will identify such documents as it may introduce at the scheduled hearing and make available for examination, inspection and/or copying such documents at that time at a time convenient to all counsel, costs ofreproduction to be borne by the requesting party. 7.) Counsel for RMMII has not yet determined what experts will be needed any hearings on the Petition as the nature of such hearings and the issues factually in dispute and to be decided by said hearings have not yet been clearly defined by the court. The curriculum vitae of any expert whose testimony will be offered at any hearing on the Petition or Objections to the accountings will be provided with a copy of such expert's written report. 2 8.) The document requests as made by counsel for Barbara McK. Mumma and Lisa M. Morgan in the form of a Notice Duces Tecum seeking to have RMMll produce said document as part of court ordered deposition of RMMll (which order does not address the issue of document production) and on only ten (l0) days notice is unduly oppressive, annoying and burdensome. WHEREFORE, ROBERT M. MUMMA ll, requests this Honorable Court for an Order suppressing the Duces Tecum document requirements contained in the Notice of Deposition dated May 6, 2004 served by counsel for Barbara McK. Mumma and Lisa M. Morgan which schedules the deposition of ROBERT M. MUMMA II on May 19,2004. ROBERT M. MUMMA II is willing to attend and provide depositional testimony on the scheduled date of May 19, 2004. DATE: 5 J I <t, Jd-J Respectfully Submitted M~gPSI~ By: . () Bra y A~ SCh r Attorney I.D. No.: 75954 P.O. Box 959 Camp Hill, PA 17001-0959 (717) 909-5921 - 3 IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA IN RE ESTATE OF ROBERT M. MUMMA, ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION Deceased. NO. 21-86-398 NOTICE OF DEPOSITION DUCES TECUM TO: Chadwick O. Bogar, Esquire Miller Lipsitt LLC P.O. Box 959 Camp Hill, PA 17001-0959 Fax: 717.909.5925 PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the undersigned counsel will take the deposition of Robert M. Mumma, II on Wednesday, May 19, 2004, beginning at 9:00 a.m. The deposition will take place at the offices of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, One Commerce Square, 417 Walnut Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. The deposition will be taken pursuant to the Pennsylvania Orphans' Court Rules and Rules of Civil Procedure and will continue from day to day until completed. Deponent shall bring with him to the deposition the following documents: 1. All documents constituting the factual or evidentiary bases for and/or which he intends to offer in support ofthe allegations set forth in his Petition for Removal of Barbara McK. Mumma and Lisa M. Morgan as Executrices and Trustees (the "Petition"), including, but not limited to: a. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan "are wasting and mismanaging the estate" of Robert M. Mumma, (Pet. ~ 7); b. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan "have failed to perform duties in a proper fashion," (Pet. ,\\7); c. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan "have spent vast sums of money from the Estate that can potentially be sheltered by the Florida homestead exemption," (Pet. ,\\7); d. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan have "jeopardized" the interests ofthe Estate of Robert M. Mumma, (Pet. ,\\7); e. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan "received assets to administer totaling over $15 million dollars [sic] and inexplicably these assets are now worth only $3 million," (Pet. ,\\7(b)); f. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan failed to "render to the heir" a "proper accounting," (Pet. ,\\7(c)); g. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan filed "no complete tax return," (Pet. ,\\7(c)); h. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan "unfairly exploit[ed], oppress[ed] and illegally convert[ed] assets to their own use and purposes," (Pet. ,\\7(d)); i. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan "voted shares of stock in corporations and as executrices sold estate property that corporate books and records indicate had previously been exchanged for stock so as to provide for controlling interest in stock in certain family owned corporations," (Pet. ,\\7(e)); j. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan "discovered major defects in the method by which various corporation documents were created and recorded and . . . kept those defects secret, intentionally hiding them from the other heirs, and exploited them to their own advantage," (Pet. ,\\7(f)); k. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan have stolen or improperly removed documents from a safe deposit box, (Pet. ,\\7(g)); 1. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan "engaged in litigation against other heirs under circumstances where it is clear that they intend to act not in the best interest of the Estate, their family or the other heirs, but in an oppressive and greedy fashion unbecoming legitimate co-executrices and trustees," (Pet. ,\\7(h)); and m. all documents supporting the allegations that Mrs. Mumma and/or Mrs. Morgan "misrepresented whether certain corporate assets were to be sold so as to obtain the advantage of surprise over other heirs and in numerous other ways acted in a dishonest fashion calculated to mislead heirs as to the status of the estate and its resulting trusts," (Pet. ,\\7(i)). 2 2. AI! documents which he intends to offer into evidence at any hearing on the Petition. 3. Curriculum vitae of any expert witnesses he intends to call to testify at any hearing on the Petition. Dated: May 6, 2004 lvo V. Otto, III Martson, Deardorff, Williams & Otto 10 East High Street Carlisle, P A 17013 717.243.3341 Attorneys for Barbara McK. Mumma and Lisa M. Morgan 3 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Brady L. Green, hereby certify that on May 6, 2004, a true and correct copy ofthe foregoing Notice of Deposition was served via facsimile and first-class mail, postage prepaid, upon the following: Chadwick O. Bogar, Esquire Miller Lipsitt LLC P.O. Box 959 Camp Hill, PA 17001-0959 Fax: 717. 717.909.5925 . CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE The undersigned hereby certifies that on this date a true and correct copy of the Motion for Protective Order was served via first class United States mail, postage pre- paid upon the following: Ivo V. Otto, III, Esquire Martson Deardorff Williams & Otto Ten East High Street Carlisle, PA 17013 Joseph A. O'Connor, Jr., Esquire Brady L. Green, Esquire Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP 1701 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19103-2921 Date r6 )r/t1I By J