Even lawyers make mistakes when it comes areas outside their area of expertise. Branter v. Smith, A-23-464 (August 27, 2024) is a prime example.
Bob Branter was a trial lawyer who lived in California. He apparently grew up in the Midwest. At one time he was romantically involved with Carol Smith, but the romance ended and they remained friends.
Bob owned a house in Ventura, California which was destroyed by a wildfire. Because of that, he allegedly couldn't purchase homeowner's insurance on a house in Nebraska. For the sake of this post, I'll take that as true but what a bizarre rule.
In November 201, Bob paid for and purchased a ...
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Epic Sandhills Ranch Family Feud
William and Meredith Zutavern had four children: Shawn, Shayne, Kelly and Maria. They owned 22,000 acres of Sandhills real estate where they had a cattle ranch.
William created a revocable trust in 2008. He died in 2011. Meredith was the successor trustee. At the time of William's death, two trusts were created. One trust (the Family Trust) would be funded in the maximum tax free amount under the federal estate tax. The other trust was solely for the benefit of his wife and was her property absolutely. The Family Trust would pay Meredith income for her life.
Although not exactly clear from the opinion, the real estate and cattle were ...
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The Largest Judgment in Nebraska History: The Streck case
The number is $723 million dollars. Of that, $467 million for 52% of the company and $256 million in prejudgment interest. It involved the valuation of the private (and "S" corporation) Streck, Inc. Streck was founded in 1971 by Dr. Wayne L. Ryan. Dr. Ryan earned two degrees from Creighton University. He was a brilliant scientist and pioneer in the hematology field. He built a business that had sales of $102 million in 2014, adjusted EBITDA of $54 million and a gross profit of 77%. These are outstanding numbers.
Every lawsuit has a legal and personal aspect to it. In this case, the personal aspect is way more interesting than the legal ...
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