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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-4831 CivilLISA S. KOVE, Plaintiff VS. LAUREEN M. ULRICH, Defendant IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA 00-4831 CIVIL CIVIL ACTION - LAW IN RE: ACCOUNTING BEFORE HESS. J. OPINION AND ORDER In this case, the plaintiff seeks an accounting of funds entrusted to the defendant. The defendant, Laureen M. Ulrich, was given $75,000. This money was transferred pursuant to a power of attorney executed by Kove. The money was to be used to facilitate the purchase of a home for Kove in the San Diego, California, area and, pending that move, to manage the household, pay bills and otherwise care for Kove's several children. These monies were deposited into a savings account in the defendant's name. Approximately one month after she received the initial funds, Ms. Ulrich transferred $25,000 to her checking account. As it turned out, all of the $75,000 was disbursed between April 1998 and July 1998. At our most recent hearing on the plaintiff's request for an accounting, the defendant was able to account for less than $15,000 of the monies expended by her. Witnesses testified that they observed the defendant spend money for purposes other than to benefit the plaintiff. Kove demands an accounting. PaR. CP. 1021(a) provides: (a) Any pleading demanding relief shall specify the relief sought. Relief in the alternative or of several different types including an accounting may be demanded. In order to establish a right to an accounting a plaintiff must show that: 00-4831 CIVIL (1) there was a valid contract, express or implied, between the parties whereby the defendant (a) received monies as agent, trustee or in any other capacity whereby the relationship created by the contract imposed a legal obligation upon the defendant to account to the plaintiff for the monies received by the defendant, or (b) if the relationship created by the contract between the plaintiff and defendant created a legal duty upon the defendant to account and the defendant failed to account and the plaintiff is unable, by reason of the defendant's failure to account, to state the exact amount due him, and (2) that the defendant breached or was in dereliction of his duty under the contract. Haft v. United States Steel Corportaion, 499 A.2d 676, 677-78 (Pa. Super 1985). The first prong of the test has been established. There can be no denying that Ms. Ulrich received $75,000 along with access to Kove's credit cards and bank accounts subject to a legal duty to make expenditures which furthered the plaintiff' s interests. Having established this duty, the plaintiff need only establish that it was breached or that the defendant acted in dereliction of that duty. This has also been established by the evidence. Not only was there affirmative testimony that the defendant spent money improperly but there were also large unexplained withdrawals and expenditures which, at the times or places involved, could not have benefited the plaintiff. For this reason, we grant the plaintiff the relief sought. ORDER AND NOW, this 6th day of April, 2004, the defendant is ordered and directed to file of record and serve upon the plaintiff a full and complete accounting with respect to those matters which are the subject of the plaintiff' s complaint. It is directed that said accounting shall 2 00-4831 CIVIL be filed and served within sixty (60) days hereof. BY THE COURT, James K. Jones, Esquire For the Plaimiff Douglas Miller, Esquire For the Defendant Court Administrator :rlm Kevin A. Hess, J. 3 LISA S. KOVE, Plaintiff VS. LAUREEN M. ULRICH, Defendant AND NOW, this 6th IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA 00-4831 CIVIL CIVIL ACTION - LAW IN RE: ACCOUNTING BEFORE HESS. J. ORDER day of April, 2004, the defendant is ordered and directed to file of record and serve upon the plaintiff a full and complete accounting with respect to those matters which are the subject of the plaintiff' s complaint. It is directed that said accounting shall be filed and served within sixty (60) days hereof. BY THE COURT, James K. Jones, Esquire For the Plaintiff Douglas Miller, Esquire For the Defendant Court Administrator :tim Kevin A. Hess, J.