In Doermer v. Oxford Fin’l Group, Ltd., No. 17-1659 (7th Cir. Mar. 7, 2018), Plaintiff Richard refused to play well with sister, Kathryn, in a family dispute over which sibling owned what property. He had, in fact, previously sued Kathryn regarding a family foundation in Doermer v. Callen, 847 F.3d 522 (7th Cir. 2017). In Doermer v. Callen, the Seventh Circuit upheld a lower court’s dismissal of the action on the grounds that Richard did not have capacity to bring a derivative action under Indiana Law. In Doermer v. Oxford, Richard instead filed suit against a financial advisor and two of three trustees of a family trust. The Seventh Circuit again affirmed a dismissal of the case on substantially the same grounds: Richard did not have capacity to bring the action on behalf of the trust.
See Seventh Circuit Considers Diversity Jurisdiction in Trust Dispute, The National Law Review, March 12, 2018.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.
