Third Party Beneficiary Prevails In Case

A Richmond lawyer is responsible for $603,409.10 after preparing a will that failed to provide the fully intended bequest to the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). 

In 2003, Alice L. Cralle Dumville asked James B. Thorsen to prepare a will for her that would keep her estranged husband from receiving any of her estate.  In an oral contract, Thorsen agreed to draft the will that would leave all of Dumville’s property to her mother and, if her mother predeceased her, to the RSPCA.  Dumville’s mother died in 2007 and Dumville died in 2008.  Thorsen subsequently sought to have the will interpreted to leave the entire estate to the RSPCA, but a Chesterfield County judge concluded the will left only tangible personal property to the society. 

Thorsen was sued for malpractice and agreed the will did not incorporate Dumville’s intentions regarding the disposition of her property.  However, he argued that the RSPCA was not an intended third-party beneficiary of his legal services contract, effectively barring the malpractice claim. 

The case was heard in November and the judge adopted the RSPCA’s reasoning that Dumville wanted everything to go to her mother and wanted everything to go to the SPCA in the event her mother predeceased her.  Furthermore, the RSPCA met Virginia’s stringent test for a third party to have standing.

Thorsen and his firm have filed a notice of appeal, indicating they will ask the Supreme Court of Virginia to review the lower court’s decision. 

See Peter Vieth, Botched Will Cost Lawyer $600,000, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, Feb. 9, 2015.

Special thanks to Ada-Marie Aman (Law Office of Ada-Marie Aman) for bringing this article to my attention.