Melville Samuel v. Century Hill, Inc., Laurie Crandall, and Craig Crandall

Superior Court of The Virgin Islands·Decided February 25, 2020·No. ST-18-CV-441·Unpublished·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS DIVISION OF ST THOMAS AND ST JOHN ****~k*****‘k**

MELVILLE SAMUEL ) ) CASE NO ST 18 CV 441 Plaintiff, ) v ) ACTION FOR BREACH OF ) CONTRACT CONVERSION & CENTURY HILL INC LAURIE CRANDALL ) PUNITIVE DAMAGES and CRAIG CRANDALL ) ) Defendants )

Cite as 2020 VI Super 30U

MEMORANDUM OPINION

111 Pending before the Court are

1 Motion for Commission to Take the Deposition of Robert Marshall, Esq and Marshall, Crane & McAloon, P C , filed on May 9, 2019; 2 Motion to Quash Motion for Commission and Subpoena of Robert Marshall, filed on May 16 2019 3 Opposition to Defendants Motion to Quash Motion for Commission and Subpoena of Robert Marshall Esq filed on June 11 2019 4 Reply in Support of Motion to Quash Motion for Commission and Subpoena of Robert Marshall filed on July 17 2019' 5 Request for Ruling on Motion for Commission, filed on July 17, 2019; 6 Second Request for Ruling on Motion for Commission, filed on August 19, 2019, 7 Third Request for Ruling on Motion for Commission, filed on November 13, 2019; and 8 Fourth Request for Ruling on Motion for Commission filed on February 5 2020

I FACTUAL BACKGROUND

'12 Plaintiff Melville Samuel is the owner of Parcel No 15C 8 Estate Rendezvous, St John, VI (the “Property ) Effective September 15, 1986, Samuel, as landlord, and Century Hill Inc , as tenant, entered into a forty year Ground Lease for the Property As an Assistant Secretary of Century Hill, Laurie Crandall attested to the signature of Maurice Poulin who signed the Ground Lease as President of Century H111 on September 16, 1986

113 In exchange for the leasehold interest it received in the Property, Century Hill was responsible for paying a monthly rent starting at $385 01 and ending at $473 51 during the last five years of the lease term As additional rent, Century Hill was responsible for payment of real property taxes Century Hill was also responsible for the care and repair of the Property, as well Samuel v Century H11! Inc et a! 2020 VI Super 30U Case No ST 18 CV 441 Memorandum Opinion Page 2 of 8

as providing for and maintaining public liability insurance and casualty insurance for not less than 100% of the Property’s full replacement value The Ground Lease specified that the required casualty insurance include Windstorm coverage

1% According to the Complaint, in 2011, Beverly Poulin and Maurice Poulin, officers of Century Hill, began experiencing cognitive difficulties as well as health issues I The Poulins are the parents of Laurie Crandall Defendant Craig Crandall is the husband of Laurie Crandall The Complaint alleges that Laurie2 took over the financial affairs of Century Hill and the Poulins became non functioning officers This allegation is denied in the Defendant 5 answer However, in the Motion to Dismiss, Defendants state ‘In 2015 his daughter, Defendant Laurie Crandall, took on the role of Manager and assumed the daily management of the Property and the financial responsibilities of Century Hill from Maurice and Beverly Poulin, who became non functioning officers due to suffering from dementia 3

115 In September 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck the Virgin Islands causing catastrophic damage and caused substantial damage to the Property As of May 13 2018, the estimated cost to repair the two buildings on the Property is $1 336,730 004 which covers labor and materials

116 In a letter dated January 15 20185, which ended with Sincerely Craig and Laurie’, the Landlord was advised that [Century Hill] is destroyed beyond repair there is just no money to rebuild My parents did have liability insurance for guest and tenants but not nearly enough to cover rebuilding The letter goes on to say I am hopeful that we will be out of there and cleaned by the end of the month

117 By letter dated June 5, 2018, Robert Marshall, the Crandalls lawyer wrote to both Laurie and Craig stating

Since I was recently made aware of the fact that Century Hill, Inc ( Century Hill ) received $300,000 of casualty insurance proceeds, I now realize that David and I may have personal liability for unpaid obligations of Century Hill, including any income taxes owed for 2017 and 2018 Our responsibilities with respect to the creditors of the Corporation would not be an immediate concern except for the fact that you have withdrawn $223,000 of the insurance proceeds from Century Hill for your personal use without adequate substantiation 6

1 Pl Complaintfil 11 and Defs Answer1l 11 2 To avoid confilsion the Crandalls will be referred to by their first names 3 Defs s Mot to Dismiss Craig Crandall 4 Pl 8 Complaint Ex B 5 Pl 5 Complaint Ex C 6 Pl 3 Complaint Ex G Samuel v Century H11] Inc et a! 2020 VI Super 30U Case No ST 18 CV 441 Memorandum Opinion Page 3 of 8

18 Samuel filed his Complaint on August 30, 2018, alleging breach of contract and conversion

11 ANALYSIS

A Motion for a Commission

19 Samuel seeks a commission ‘ which would allow Samuel to serve subpoenas on Attorney Marshall and the Marshall Firm requiring the production of documents critical to Samuel s case 7 The Subpoena Duces Tecum seeks

1 Copies of all records related to Century Hill, Inc including all records showing assets of the corporation and any books and records of the corporation relating to income and expenses

2 Copies of all communications between Laurie Crandall and/or Century Hill, Inc and Robert Marshall Esq

1110 Section 4921 of Title 5 of the Virgin Islands Code permits the taking of a deposition outside this territory to obtain testimony or documents or other things in an action pending in this territory before a person commissioned by the Court Section 4921 is part of the Virgin Islands Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act 8 Samuel has shown that he is entitled to have Attorney Marjorie Whalen appointed as a Commissioner

B Samuel May Obtain Discovery Regarding Any Nonprivileged Matter That is Relevant to Any Party’s Claim or Defense

1111 Virgin Islands Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b) provides that a party may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to a party’s claim or defense, and that the information does not need to be admissible as evidence to be discoverable

(1) Scope m General Unless otherwise limited by court order, the scope of discovery is as follows Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense Information within this scope of discovery need not be admissible in evidence to be discoverable

1112 Virgin Islands Rule of Evidence 401 defines relevant evidence as evidence tending to make a fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence and the fact is of consequence in determining the action ‘The test for relevance is whether proffered evidence has ‘any tendency

7 Pl ’8 Request for Ruling on Mot for Commission 3 8 5 VIC § 492513 Samuel v Century Hill Inc et a! 2020 VI Super 30U Case No ST 18 CV 441 Memorandum Opinion Page 4 of 8

to make the existence of any fact that is ‘of consequence to the determination of the action ‘more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence ” 9 The ‘ any tendency ’ language makes the standard for Rule 401 relevance very easy to satisfy ‘0 Rule 401 does not require the evidence to be dispositive of a fact in issue the bar is much lower and simply requires that the evidence makes the existence (or non existence) of such fact more or less likely ”

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Melville Samuel v. Century Hill, Inc., Laurie Crandall, and Craig Crandall, (visuper 2020).

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