 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
March v. Levine3/17/2003
Much of the history of this protracted litigation can be gleaned from the opinion of this Court in March v. Levine, No. 01-A-01-9708-PB-00437, 1999 WL 140760 (Tenn. Ct. App. March 17, 1999), the opinion of the United States District for the Middle District of Tennessee in March v. Levine, 136 F. Supp. 2d 831 (M.D. Tenn. 2000), and the opinion of the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in March v. Levine, 249 F.3d 462 (6th Cir. 2001).
Perry March and Wife, Janet Levine March, are parents of two minor children, Samson and Tzipora March. Lawrence and Carolyn Levine are the parents of Janet Levine March and the maternal grandparents of the two minor children.
Janet Levine March disappeared on August 15, 1996. Perry March, a Nashville lawyer, soon became the subject of an intense investigation into his wife's disappearance. The body of Janet Levine March (assuming her to be deceased) has never been found.
The seed of this litigation, which was destined to mushroom into a figurative giant sequoia, was planted by Perry March on October 30, 1996 when he filed, in the Probate Court for Davidson County, Tennessee, a Petition for Summary Relief pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 30-3-203 seeking the transfer to him of two bank accounts totaling $4,770.19, held by Union Planters National Bank in the name of Janet Levine March.
Title 30 Chapter 3 of Tennessee Code Annotated entitled Absentee's Estates is codified in two sections, the first section being the Uniform Absence as Evidence of Death and Absentees' Property Law originally enacted as Chapter 102 of the Public Acts of 1941. Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-3-101 to 114. Part two, entitled Conservators, is derived from Chapter 785 of the Public Acts of 1972 (adj. S.). Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-3-201 to 210.
Tennessee Code Annotated section 30-3-203 provides for the transfer of property without conservatorship to the spouse or next of kin of any "absentee" as defined in section 30-3-201 of the Code, where the property has a gross value of less than $5,000. An "absentee," as applicable in this case, is defined as " ny resident of this state, or any person owning property herein, who disappears under circumstances indicating that he may have died, either naturally, accidentally or at the hand of another, or may have disappeared as the result of mental derangement, amnesia or other mental cause." Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-3-201(2)(1984).
Although Code section 30-3-203 authorized the court to make the transfer of these accounts without notice or a hearing because the accounts contain less than $5,000, the court, nonetheless, set a hearing and notified the Levines. On November 6, 1996, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine filed an intervening petition in the probate court as next friends and parents of Janet Levine March and grandparents of Samson and Tzipora March in which they denied that Perry March was entitled to summary relief under section 30-3-203 of the Code and asserted:
4. The Absentee has been missing since August 15, 1996. Despite an intense search, the governmental authorities have been unable to locate her. According to public statements of the Metropolitan Police Department, the Petitioner is the only known suspect in her probable death. Contrary to the signed pleadings of Petitioner that Petitioner has searched for his wife, he has in fact made no public efforts to search for her and he has impeded the police investigation by refusing to have any communication or discussion with the Metro Police; he has refused to answer any further questions or meet with them after their initial investigation or help search for her.
In sworn testimony taken in the cause of
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Tennessee Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|