Plaintiff prevails on breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, fraud claims

The defendant, Robert Katkin, was removed as successor trustee in 2020 by Oakland County Probate Court Judge Daniel A. O’Brien for serious breaches of duty that a trustee owes to the beneficiaries.

The plaintiff, Alan Katkin, was named successor trustee by Judge O’Brien, who initiated this action to recover trust assets. Robert Katkin never provided any accounting in the 13 years he acted as successor trustee and used the trust account as his own personal account. He also never challenged the questionable transfer of commercial property that was owned by the trust. The statute of limitations now bars the trust from recovering the property.

The plaintiff alleged claims of breach of fiduciary duty, conversion and fraud/misrepresentation.

The defendant defended the action by asserting that he fully turned over all the trust assets to the successor trustee, which made the trust whole. As for the commercial property, he asserted that the transfer was proper. The defendant asserted as a defense that this matter was harassment by the plaintiff, and that it was a “money grab,” since the defendant did not owe the trust anything.

A jury trial was conducted in November 2023, where the plaintiff presented evidence of funds being diverted from the trust to the defendant.

While the defendant denied that certain jewelry was trust property, the plaintiff produced evidence that demonstrated the jewelry was a trust asset. The plaintiff introduced into evidence the deed that transferred the commercial property to a third-party, who later sold the property for $1,000,000.

The defendant did not appear at the trial and offered no witnesses in his defense. The jury found in favor of plaintiff and awarded $1,000,000 for breach of duty and silent fraud, $50,422 for conversion of the jewelry and granted plaintiff’s request for treble damages, and $13,050.59 for conversion of trust money.

The plaintiff’s law firm provided case information.

Type of action: Probate / trusts

Injuries alleged: Breach of fiduciary duty

Name of case: Alan Katkin, successor trustee v. Robert Katkin

Court/Case no./Date: Oakland County Probate Court; 2021-401,147-CZ; 11/17/2023

Tried before: Jury

Name of judge: Daniel A. O’Brien

Verdict amount: $1,164,316.59

Attorney for plaintiff: Cindy Rhodes Victor, Southfield

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