In Re Frances Spanos Shelton v. the State of Texas

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided October 6, 2025·No. 15-25-00152-CV·Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED

15-25-00152-CV

FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS

10/6/2025 12:28 PM

No. 15-25-____-CV CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE CLERK

FILED IN

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS 15th COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTEENTH DISTRICT AUSTIN, TEXAS 10/6/2025 12:28:00 PM

AT AUSTIN

CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE

Clerk

IN RE FRANCES SPANOS SHELTON, Relator.

On Mandamus from the 414th District Court of McLennan County, Texas, Cause No. 2024-3035-5

RECORD IN SUPPORT OF PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS

Kirk L. Pittard Craig D. Cherry State Bar No. 24010313 State Bar No. 24012419 kpittard@dpslawgroup.com ccherry@cjsjlaw.com Rick Thompson Ryan C. Johnson State Bar No. 00788537 State Bar No. 24048574 rthompson@dpslawgroup.com rjohnson@cjsjlaw.com DURHAM, PITTARD & SPALDING, LLP Scott H. James P.O. Box 224626 State Bar No. 24037848 Dallas, Texas 75222 sjames@cjsjlaw.com (214) 946-8000 CHERRY JOHNSON SIEGMUND (214) 946-8433 (fax) JAMES, PLLC 7901 Fish Pond Road, 2nd Floor Waco, Texas 76710

(254) 732-2242

(866) 627-3509 (fax)

COUNSEL FOR RELATOR

ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED

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1 REPORTER'S RECORD VOLUME 2 OF 3 VOLUMES

2 TRIAL COURT CAUSE NO. 2024-3035-5 COURT OF APPEALS CAUSE NO. 10-25-00108-CV 3 FRANCES SPANOS SHELTON, )( IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF 4 Plaintiff, )( )(

5 VS. )( )(

6 VERNON LEUSCHNER, )( AND AS DURABLE POWER OF )( 7 ATTORNEY FOR KATHERINE )( LEUSCHNER, ROBERT LEE SPANOS, )( 414TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT 8 AND KATHRYN NICOLE LAWRIE, )( Intervenors, )( 9 )( VS. )( 10 )( VERNON LEUSCHNER,INDIVIDUALLY,)( 11 AND KATHERINE LEUSCHNER, )( Defendants. )( MCLENNAN COUNTY, TEXAS 12 ______________________________________________________

13 MOTION TO RE-AFFIRM AND/OR DESIGNATE TRUSTEE OF THE DOROTHY SPANOS LIVING TRUST 14

15 MOTION TO APPOINT RECEIVER

16

17 18 On the 4th day of March, 2025, the following proceedings 19 came on to be held in the above-titled and numbered cause 20 before the Honorable Ryan Luna, Judge Presiding, held in Waco, 21 McLennan County, Texas. 22 Proceedings reported by oral stenography. 23 24 25

Jennifer Murphy, CSR, CVR MR 00225

1 there been any discussion with Judge Stem about who he thinks 2 ought to replace Malone? 3 MR. MCSWAIN: We're gonna talk about that. 4 That's one of the things. I'm gonna put Judge Stem on the 5 stand. I'm happy to do it now, or I'm happy to do it in 6 connection with the Receivership. Whatever you want to do. 7 THE COURT: Let's do it now. 8 MR. MCSWAIN: Do it now? 9 THE COURT: Yeah. 10 You need a break? Okay. Let's take a 11 five-minute break. 12 MR. MCSWAIN: Okay. 13 (Recess taken from 3:14 p.m. to 3:22 p.m.) 14 THE COURT: We are back on the record in 15 2024-3035-5. 16 (Witness sworn.) 17 THE COURT: If you'll have a seat, please. 18 JUDGE ROBERT STEM, 19 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 20 DIRECT EXAMINATION 21 BY MR. MCSWAIN: 22 Q. Would you please state your name for the record, 23 Judge Stem. 24 A. Robert Stem. 25 Q. Okay. How long were you a district judge?

Jennifer Murphy, CSR, CVR MR 00226

1 case. We've got the order that's already in evidence, where 2 you appointed the trust advisor in March of 2022. 3 Did you begin to serve at that point in time? 4 A. I did. 5 Q. As you sit here today, do you believe that that 6 order was issued by Judge Vik -- 7 (Speaking simultaneously.) 8 A. Absolutely. 9 Q. (BY MR. MCSWAIN) -- jurisdiction? You think it was 10 issued with jurisdiction -- 11 MR. CHERRY: Objection, Your Honor; calls for a 12 legal conclusion. 13 THE COURT: I'm sorry, can you ask the question 14 again so we can have a clean -- please? 15 Q. (BY MR. MCSWAIN) Do you think that Judge Vik had 16 jurisdiction when he issued that order? 17 MR. CHERRY: Objection, Your Honor; legal 18 conclusion. 19 THE COURT: Overruled. 20 A. Yes, sir. 21 Q. (BY MR. MCSWAIN) Have you done a lot of work since 22 March 2022, on this estate and this trust and trying to sort 23 things out? 24 A. Yes, sir. 25 Q. Tell the judge a little bit about what you have done

Jennifer Murphy, CSR, CVR MR 00227

1 powers under 4.7 -- 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. -- of the trust? 4 A. Correct. 5 Q. And did you feel, at the time, that -- based on her 6 actions, that you had the ability to remove her for cause? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. There's been some discussion, and Ms. Shelton has 9 provided an audio recording of you -- I don't know, six or 10 eight or nine months later -- in a discussion with Josh White 11 and Ms. Shelton, where you told Ms. Shelton, "I did not remove 12 you for cause," or words to that effect? 13 A. Words to that effect. 14 Q. Okay. Did you tell her that? 15 A. Yeah. 16 Q. Okay. Why did you tell her that when you felt like 17 you could have removed for cause at the time? 18 A. Well, I mean, that's my nature. I mean, I was 19 practicing some degree of diplomacy at that time. We didn't 20 need to have a hard-hitting session. Kathy's side had 21 outlined -- and Fran had seen it -- a several-page letter 22 detailing what Kathy believed is violations of the trust, 23 okay? Mr. Palmer responded, and I had to make a call, okay? 24 Q. Okay. 25 A. My letter of May the 3rd just simply says, we need a

Jennifer Murphy, CSR, CVR MR 00228

1 neutral, detached, and independent trustee, okay? And she was 2 not a neutral, detached, and independent trustee, okay? And 3 that's as far as I took it, okay? 4 Q. So to Judge Luna's -- so you ended up appointing 5 John Malone, and there's reference made that appointment in 6 this letter? 7 A. Correct. 8 Q. As John Malone served as trustee, did he discuss 9 with you, as trust advisor, on a regular basis, things that he 10 was doing, ought to be doing, thinking about doing? Did he 11 discuss those things with you? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. Did the two of you work hand-in-hand to try to bring 14 this to a resolution somehow? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Did you think that the suit against John Malone was 17 righteous? 18 A. No. Baseless. 19 Q. Okay. 20 A. Clearly baseless. 21 Q. And I want to go back. And we're gonna talk about 22 that in just a minute. I want to go back. 23 Apparently, in the discussion that you had with 24 Mr. White and Ms Shelton five, six, seven, eight months after 25 you removed her as the trustee, your hour-long discussion with

Jennifer Murphy, CSR, CVR MR 00229

1 them -- or at least part of it -- was recorded. Are you now 2 aware of that? 3 A. I am now. I wasn't then. 4 Q. Did Mr. White tell you that he was using his fancy 5 Apple Watch to record everything that y'all were talking 6 about? 7 A. No. 8 Q. Did he disclose to you, at the time, that he was 9 recording? 10 A. No. 11 Q. Okay. If he had told you, "I'd like to record what 12 we're talking about, you know, so that we can have that record 13 of it later, or so that my wife can take notes" -- which 14 apparently was the situation -- "and make sure she's 15 accurate," what would you have said? 16 A. I think John Malone and I would have discussed it 17 with him, and say, "Hey, why do you need to record this?" 18 Q. Okay. 19 A. But the fact is, he never disclosed that to us. 20 Q. Okay. 21 A. That, in my mind -- to everyone in this courtroom -- 22 is a breach of a professional courtesy. And anyone who 23 participates in that, that is breach of professional 24 responsibility and courtesy. 25 MR. JAMES: Your Honor, I'm gonna object to

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In Re Frances Spanos Shelton v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2025).

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