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McBurney v. Roszkowski6/15/2005
lied authority to enter into the stipulation, dated March 23, 1999, providing for the type of judgment entered; and (2) whether, on a document entitled 'General Release and Confidentiality Agreement,' the signatures purporting to be those of McBurney individually, and on behalf of McBurney Law Services, Inc., are genuine."
On remand, the Superior Court conducted five full days of extensive hearings between June 7 and July 23, 2001, during which both parties presented several witnesses. First, McBurney's attorney, Cristine McBurney, testified that McBurney specifically had agreed to the judgment stipulation providing "Judgment for Defendant." Cristine testified that at no time had she presented a stipulation in any other form to McBurney. The witness also testified that she personally observed McBurney sign the general release and confidentiality agreement.
McBurney, on the other hand, testified that he had never consented to the stipulation providing "Judgment for Defendant." Rather, he testified that on March 23, 1999, he signed a settlement stipulation in the courtroom that contained more commonly-used language providing for a dismissal with prejudice. McBurney also testified that although he had signed the release agreement in his individual capacity, he never had signed as a corporate officer for McBurney Law Services. Because the document contained a signature purporting to be McBurney's in that capacity, he testified, that signature was either forged or spliced onto the document in question.
Kathleen McBurney (Kathleen), an assistant at McBurney Law Services and a member of the family, as well, also testified at the hearing. According to the witness, she received a faxed copy of the general release and confidentiality agreement at the law offices shortly after McBurney had returned from court on March 23, 1999. Kathleen testified that as soon as she received the fax transmission, she gave it to McBurney for his signature. A short while later, McBurney returned the document to her, and she briefly reviewed it. According to Kathleen, the release was "fully executed." She added that when he handed the signed release to her, McBurney instructed her to mail the documents to Roszkowki's attorney.
Next, John Walsh, attorney for Roszkowski, testified that he handwrote a stipulation specifying "Judgment for Defendant," which he and Cristine executed. After signing the stipulation, Walsh testified that he faxed a release to Cristine. That same day, he received, via return fax, the same release, signed by both Cristine and McBurney. Walsh added that it was his understanding throughout this case that Cristine was representing McBurney, and, therefore, she had authority to negotiate on his behalf. Walsh added that he was unaware of the existence of any stipulation other than that which the attorneys signed on March 23, 1999.
Both parties also presented expert witnesses to testify about the authenticity of the signatures on the general release and confidentiality agreement. First, Pauline Patchis, a board-certified document examiner, testified that after examining and comparing the signatures on the release to five known signatures of McBurney, she was of the opinion that the questioned signature on the general release and confidentiality agreement was not genuine. Patchis noted, however, that she had not examined originals of the contested document, instead comparing only copies of the release to known samples of McBurney's writing.
The defendant presented Alan T. Robillard as an expert in questioned document examination. Robillard, an FBI-trained handwriting analyst, testified at length about his training and the methodology utilized in his field,
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