San Jose: Judge rejects nearly $30,000 attorney fee to disabled man's trust

SAN JOSE -- In his strongest language yet, a Santa Clara County judge threw out almost $30,000 in attorney's fees charged to the trust of a disabled San Jose man whose fight against excessive charges in the local probate court is spawning sweeping reforms.

While Judge Franklin Bondonno said he lacks the power to strike down another $145,000 in attorney's fees billed to the trust of Danny Reed, the judge -- in a highly unusual gesture -- implored a higher court to overturn his decision.

The ruling comes in the aftermath of this newspaper's investigation, "Loss of Trust," which highlighted Reed's costly fight to beat back high trustee and attorney's fees billed to the 37-year-old brain-damaged man's special needs trust. When Reed objected, his trustee's attorney charged even more to defend the original bills.

"At some point, this endless wasting of Danny Reed's trust assets must stop," Judge Franklin Bondonno stated in a ruling released Monday. "As far as this Court is concerned, that moment is long past."

Bondonno's latest action strikes down a third set of fees requested by attorney Michael Desmarais, who is representing prominent Silicon Valley trustee Thomas Thorpe in this closely watched case illustrating the high cost of estate managers who serve elderly and disabled adults -- and how the court did little for years to stop it. In less than a month, the newspaper's series has prompted more scrutiny in Santa Clara County's lead probate judge's courtroom and a 25-member task force to study more far-reaching changes.

Original charges

In 2010, Thorpe hired Desmarais to defend a six-figure bill for just 41/2 months' work as a court-appointed trustee to manage Reed's estate, which -- under state law -- is on the hook for "reasonable" legal bills racked up on all sides of the case. When Reed objected to Thorpe's and his attorneys' original $108,000 bill, the costs soared.

The bills submitted by Thorpe's team so far amount to more than half of the money Reed has left in his trust. Reed's legal team includes a public defender and two private attorneys working free of charge.


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San Jose: Judge rejects nearly $30,000 attorney fee to disabled man's trust

See Also:
Santa Clara judge reconsiders his early ruling on a trustee excessive fee case

The Mercury News' "Loss of Trust" Series (Anchor article)