Partial Summary Judgment in Breach of Trust Case

November 2012

The plaintiff trust lost approximately $2,000,000.00 in 2008 when its predominate stock holding, Wachovia Bank, collapsed in value and was sold for pennies on the dollar. The trustee had retained an excessive concentration of Wachovia stock in purported reliance on a trust provision it said required retention of the stock. The trial court ruled as a matter of law that the trustee’s asserted interpretation of the clause in question was incorrect and unreasonable.