Walt Disney's Grandson Fighting Courts And Twin For His Inheritance

By Amy Lamare

Bradford Lund is the 50-year-old grandson of Walt Disney. He's been fighting for his $200 million inheritance for 15 years while his twin sister and trustees of the estate have been claiming he has Down syndrome, which would nullify his trust on the grounds of not being mentally capable. Lund has been tested for Down syndrome and he does not have it. Now he's asking the California Commission on Judicial Performance to remove LA County judge David Cowan for an alleged ethics violation during a probate hearing. Bradford claims that Cowan showed bias by siding with "hostile trustees" who are paid $1 million a year to oversee the trust and thus have a vested interest in keeping the trust intact rather than releasing the money that was due to Lund on his 35^th birthday.

Last June, Cowan allegedly said in court: "Do I want to give $200 million dollars effectively to someone who may suffer from Down syndrome? The answer is no." Lund's DNA test proved he did not have Down syndrome and he is able to manage his own finances.

Photo by Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Walt Disney died in 1966, four years before Bradford and his twin sister Michelle were born. He left a significant part of his fortune to his daughters Diane and Sharon and their descendants. Bradford and Michelle's mother Sharon died in 1993 after a battle with breast cancer. She left her kids a portion of her estate when they turn 35 with the caveat that three appointed trustees have to find them mentally capable in order for them to receive their trust funds. Sharon's will stipulated that Bradford and Michelle would receive payouts from their trust fund on their 35^th, 40^th, and 45^th birthdays. She appointed the trustees which included her husband Bill, her sister Diane, and a real estate agent who scouted the location for Disney World. The trustees each receive $1 million a year until Bradford and Michelle's payments were made.

When the twins turned 35, the trustees decided Bradford lacked the mental capabilities necessary to receive his payout. Michelle, on the other hand, was awarded her payout, despite allegedly being a drug addict and after a nearly fatal brain aneurysm in 2009 that reportedly affected her mental capabilities. Bradford and Michelle were once close siblings. Now, they've been battling over their $400 million inheritance and haven't spoken in four years. Bradford's side of the argument is that Michelle suffered brain damage from her aneurysm and that the trustees control Michelle like a "robot," yet she gets the payouts from their shared trust fund. Michelle's side includes the trustees, and their argument is that Bradford is mentally incompetent.  The feud started on Labor Day 2009 when Michelle had her near-fatal aneurysm. As she fought for her life, her father tried to move her to Arizona where he lived with his fifth wife and Bradford. The trustees filed suit to stop him and Michelle chose their side when she recovered. Further complicating matters is the fact that the twins' aunt Diane and their half-sisters worry that Bradford was being used by his father and his step-mother Sherry for his money. In a lawsuit filed in Maricopa County, Arizona, Diane and the siblings called him a virtual captive in his home. Bradford has denied this.

Now Bradford is taking issue with how the caveat in his mother's will is being interpreted. He and his attorneys claim the probate system is susceptible to corruption. Basically, the longer the client is considered incapable of managing his or her affairs, the longer the trustees get paid.

Judge Cowan removed himself from the Bradford Lund case. He also is no longer a sitting judge in probate court.

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Walt Disney's Grandson Fighting Courts And Twin For His Inheritance 

 

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Bradford Lund

Grandson Of The Late Walt Disney, Bradford Lund, Alleges Conduct Of Former Opposing Lawyer Was Like "Noxious Chemicals," In Arizona Litigation Filed Against Bryan Murphy

LUND ALLEGES ATTORNEY INFILTRATED LUND'S PRIVILEGED DOCUMENTS AND GAINED A TACTICAL ADVANTAGE IN THE CASE UNTIL HE WAS REMOVED BY COURT ORDER

Bradford Lund

PHOENIX, Oct. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bradford Lund, grandson of the late Walt Disney, recently, through his counsel, participated in oral argument to the Arizona Appellate Court following briefing where he is seeking to overturn the dismissal of a lawsuit against Arizona attorney Bryan Murphy, and his firm. Lund's lawyer argued that Murphy should not be allowed to escape liability on a "statute of limitations" argument that didn't apply to this case.  

Rather, Lund likened the harm caused by Murphy to pollution cases, trespass cases, and domestic violence cases which are often defined as "continuing torts" and cannot be subject to a statute of limitations argument to save the wrongdoer, until the harm itself is finally abated.   Thus, Lund argued, the statute of limitations did not begin to run until Murphy and his firm were finally removed from the case. 

Lund alleged in his December 2016 lawsuit that attorney Murphy and his law firm of Burch & Cracchiolo, which represented Lund's estranged relatives in an ultimately failed guardianship/conservatorship case, committed "abuse of [judicial] process" due to Murphy's  improper possession, disclosure, and utilization of Lund's confidential and "privileged" legal file which was delivered to him in error by Lund's former estate planning firm.  

Upon discovery of the privileged material, instead of merely returning the file back unexamined, or destroying the copy, an action that Lund alleged was his duty, Lund's filing, in a brief to the Arizona Court of Appeals, describes what happened next:

"[I]n an atmosphere of scorched-earth killer litigation, even after being advised by Mr. Lund's then counsel that the file should not have been disclosed to him, [Murphy] refused to destroy or return the file as requested. Instead, [Murphy] almost immediately examined every page, disclosed it to key participants of the litigation including the guardian ad litem, court appointed investigator, and multiple others. [Murphy] also went on to make notes about intimate confidential portions of the file. Armed with this improper information which he never should have even set eyes upon, [Murphy] remained as adversarial counsel in Mr. Lund's highly acrimonious case. – Lund Opening Brief, pages 1-2 (Emph. added).

Murphy was subsequently disciplined in the form of an "admonishment" for this same conduct.  Lund alleges it took years of legal wrangling and challenges by Murphy and his firm before the trial judge finally granted Lund's demand for disqualification of them, and, in so doing, found in pertinent part:

"…if disqualification is denied, [Lund] will be in litigation against an adversary who is armed with the knowledge of the advice that his own prior counsel gave to him. Litigating against a party who possesses such an advantage is antithetical to the values of an adversary system. While the burdens placed on Petitioners would be, in the final analysis, only financial, quantifiable, and their choice to bear, the burdens faced by Mr. Lund would be those of a system failure, incalculable, and beyond his ability to fully know." – Disqualification Ruling by Judge Bassett, page 5. (Emph. added).

Lund's filings compare Murphy's actions to "noxious pollution spewing through the air," meaning that the pollution continues and thus no "statute of limitations" is applicable until the "pollution" itself is abated. The brief on appeal stated: "The poisonous 'tactical advantage' of [Murphy] continued…until the fatal wound to justice was finally abated by the removal of [Murphy and his firm] as lawyers in the case." Indeed, in arguing for his day in court, Mr. Lund alleges that damages to him continue to this day and will be proven to be "irreparable" at a jury trial.

Contact: Alex Lange
ALange@tridentdmg.com 
(202) 480-4309 

SOURCE Lanny Davis

 

Full Article & Source:

Grandson Of The Late Walt Disney, Bradford Lund, Alleges Conduct Of Former Opposing Lawyer Was Like "Noxious Chemicals," In Arizona Litigation Filed Against Bryan Murphy 

 

See Also: 

Lanny Davis, Attorney to Bradford Lund, Grandson of Walt Disney, Joins Arizona Litigation Against Lund's Former Attorney, Jeffrey Shumway Who Is Alleged To Have Charged Lund Over One Million Dollars Only To Secretly Betray Him