Editor's note: The probate crooks are reluctant to turn off the spigot of easy money flowing into their pockets. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Nashville judge: Former public guardian not liable for ward's losses
Former public guardian gets victory
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Jeanan Stuart / George Walker IV / File / The Tennessean
A Davidson County circuit court judge has thrown out part of a suit filed against a former public guardian who was removed from her post following multiple questions about her billing practices, including charging attorney-level fees for accompanying wards on shopping trips or attending a concert.
The ruling means that former Davidson County public guardian Jeanan Stuart is not liable for losses sustained by Ginger Franklin while Stuart was acting as Franklin’s conservator. Circuit Judge Hamilton V. Gayden Jr. said in a letter to Franklin’s attorney that he had decided to grant Stuart’s motion for summary judgment.
Franklin, who lost her condo, car and all her belongings during the conservatorship, said she could not understand the decision.
“Everything I owned was gone,” she said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
Gayden’s letter does not disclose the reasoning behind his decision, and a formal ruling has yet to be posted on the circuit court web site.
But the judge left the door open for Franklin to proceed with her case on a second charge.
Stuart was removed from her post by Probate Judge David “Randy” Kennedy following a series of articles by The Tennessean about Stuart and her billing practices. Records show she charges up to $225 an hour for non-legal work, such as accompanying wards on shopping trips.
As The Tennessean reported, Franklin’s car was taken by Stuart and then abandoned in a parking garage. It was towed away and auctioned off without Franklin’s knowledge.
Stuart submitted her resignation simultaneously with Kennedy’s announcement that he was removing her. The post has remained vacant for nearly a year. No action has been taken on a series of recommendations by a task force appointed by Kennedy to improve the public guardianship program.
Gayden said in his letter to attorney Michael Hoskins that he had not yet decided whether to reject a separate claim by Franklin relating to Stuart’s placement of Franklin in a group home, where Franklin has charged she was put to work taking care of other residents.
A Sumner County judge, in a separate suit filed by Franklin against the group home and its owner, ruled that Franklin and other residents at the group home were the victims of “egregious and intentional abuse” when they were put to work by the group home owner.
The judge in the case, C.L. Buck Rogers, died recently before a hearing could be held to determine the amount of punitive damages to which Franklin was entitled.
The ruling means that former Davidson County public guardian Jeanan Stuart is not liable for losses sustained by Ginger Franklin while Stuart was acting as Franklin’s conservator. Circuit Judge Hamilton V. Gayden Jr. said in a letter to Franklin’s attorney that he had decided to grant Stuart’s motion for summary judgment.
Franklin, who lost her condo, car and all her belongings during the conservatorship, said she could not understand the decision.
“Everything I owned was gone,” she said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
Gayden’s letter does not disclose the reasoning behind his decision, and a formal ruling has yet to be posted on the circuit court web site.
But the judge left the door open for Franklin to proceed with her case on a second charge.
Stuart was removed from her post by Probate Judge David “Randy” Kennedy following a series of articles by The Tennessean about Stuart and her billing practices. Records show she charges up to $225 an hour for non-legal work, such as accompanying wards on shopping trips.
As The Tennessean reported, Franklin’s car was taken by Stuart and then abandoned in a parking garage. It was towed away and auctioned off without Franklin’s knowledge.
Stuart submitted her resignation simultaneously with Kennedy’s announcement that he was removing her. The post has remained vacant for nearly a year. No action has been taken on a series of recommendations by a task force appointed by Kennedy to improve the public guardianship program.
Gayden said in his letter to attorney Michael Hoskins that he had not yet decided whether to reject a separate claim by Franklin relating to Stuart’s placement of Franklin in a group home, where Franklin has charged she was put to work taking care of other residents.
A Sumner County judge, in a separate suit filed by Franklin against the group home and its owner, ruled that Franklin and other residents at the group home were the victims of “egregious and intentional abuse” when they were put to work by the group home owner.
The judge in the case, C.L. Buck Rogers, died recently before a hearing could be held to determine the amount of punitive damages to which Franklin was entitled.
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