Anton v. Anton

Beatryce Halpern created a trust (the Halpern trust) in her will. Halpern’s niece, Maralyn Anton, and Anton’s five children were among the beneficiaries of the trust. Halpern appointed Maralyn, Elizabeth Krup, and Jared Anton (defendant) as the trustees. Halpern’s will required two trustees to serve. Mitchell Anton (plaintiff) was named in the will as the first successor trustee. When Maralyn died, Mitchell was appointed as cotrustee of the Halpern trust. Several of the Anton siblings, including Mitchell, believed that Jared was misappropriating trust funds. Jared resigned as cotrustee, and Tracy Anton was appointed as a successor trustee. Eventually, Mitchell as cotrustee of the Halpern trust sued Jared, seeking treble damages for civil theft, among other claims. Krup filed an affidavit indicating her full support and concurrence in Mitchell’s suit against Jared to recover misappropriated trust funds. Tracy, for her part, sought to intervene and crossclaim for the removal of Mitchell and Krup as cotrustees, while Mitchell counterclaimed to remove Tracy as a cotrustee for failing to take action against Jared and shielding him from liability. In due course, Jared admitted that he had misappropriated funds from the Halpern trust and pleaded guilty to three counts of grand theft. The trial court granted summary judgment for Mitchell and awarded $141,516 in damages but did not award treble damages. Both Mitchell and Jared appealed. On appeal, Jared claimed that Mitchell lacked capacity to bring the action alone without joining the other cotrustees, Tracy and Krup. Mitchell argued that his actions on behalf of the trust were authorized and that treble damages should have been awarded.