Broken Trust

Rose Saigh was moved in 2001 to the Clayton on the Park hotel from her home of over 50 years by her brother William “Bill” Saigh.
The 93-year-old’s house, meanwhile, underwent a $1.2 million renovation under the supervision of Bill Saigh. Among the tens of thousands of dollars spent on remodeling two bathrooms was $5,100 for a Waterworks Etoile shower assembly – made of polished chrome with exposed piping and a hand shower.
While Bill Saigh and his fourth wife, Christine, lived for a time in the refurbished house at 150 S. Price Road in the wealthy St. Louis suburb of Ladue, Rose Saigh never got to use her new bathrooms. She died in 2002 at the hotel at the age of 94.
Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District judges heard about the renovations and the shower assembly Nov. 26 in the latest installment of a nasty legal battle over the trust left by former Cardinals owner Fred Saigh Jr. for the care of Rose, one of his two sisters. Rose had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
The few million dollars were a tiny fraction of the approximately half a billion dollars Fred Saigh had amassed before his death in 1999. They were enough, however, to spark a lawsuit pitting Bill Saigh against his son Michael Saigh and his grandson, Andrew. In addition to other family members, hauled into the fray were corporate trustees Bank of America and A.G. Edwards Trust Co. for their alleged failure to protect Rose’s trusts.
While other defendants settled, A.G. Edwards Trust was dismissed from the case by a circuit court judge’s summary judgment. Michael and Andrew Saigh appealed that summary judgment.
The story of the shower assembly, described by plaintiffs’ attorney Michael George as a showerhead, and Rose’s death in a hotel appeared to strike a chord with appeals court Judge Gary Gaertner, who directed pointed questions about them to Michael Clithero, a Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin attorney representing A.G. Edwards Trust.
In a March 2001 note included in court documents, Rose had asked A.G. Edwards Trust to pay for expenses for the renovations. The renovations were to take care of mold problems and accessibility issues at the house, Clithero said at the hearing.
Gaertner asked if mold remediation required the $5,100 shower assembly and the replacement of a terrazzo floor with granite, another improvement mentioned earlier by George.
“Quite frankly, it seems excessive, but we (A.G. Edwards) were directed,” Clithero said. “We can’t go against her (Rose’s) wishes. We automatically get sued, and we lose that suit.”
A.G. Edwards was not told Rose was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1998, Clithero said. No law requires or expects trustees to get medical information on a client’s mental capacity, he said.
Gaertner asked if it was A.G. Edwards’ duty to “continue to approve everything.” “If you’re removing a 9[3]-year-old out of her home and putting her in a hotel room, and authorizing $1.2 million for a home she’s not likely to live in, doesn’t that trigger some questions?”
A.G. Edwards can’t know a person’s life expectancy, Clithero said. “Oftentimes the requests would come in (for renovation expenses) and they were questioned, and we went back to the file to find (Rose’s) directive.”
Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. stock owned by the Saigh family for decades was liquidated to pay for the renovations, and capital gains taxes were paid on the assets of a woman who was to die within months, George said. In its brief, A.G. Edwards Trust said it had advised the sale of 25 percent of the Anheuser-Busch stock to diversify the trust holdings, but had not recommended liquidating the stock holdings.
Bill and Christine Saighs’ attorney during the circuit court trial, Richard Bender of Rosenblum, Goldenhersh, Silverstein & Zafft, had said the lawsuit was filed to get at the deep pockets of Bank of America and A.G. Edwards. Bender did not return calls in December seeking comment, but was interviewed earlier this year.
A spokesman for A.G. Edwards Trust said in a statement that the company disagrees with the appellants’ allegations, and had been pleased the trial court granted the company’s motion for summary judgment.

‘Greed feeding greed’

The A.G. Edwards Trust appeal is the last vestige of a lawsuit that has dragged on for four years. Bank of America settled for a confidential amount. The family members settled in April, with Bill and Christine Saigh agreeing to forsake claims to the $1.7 million that remained in the Rose Saigh trust in exchange for a $600,000 payment.
Accusations of greed trumping love have come from both sides, with a nurse testifying in circuit court that Bill Saigh threatened Rose. In turn, Bill Saigh cast doubt on the paternity of Michael, the son of Bill Saigh’s second wife, Janet Saigh Schmidt, and claimed Michael and Andrew had cozied up to Fred Saigh only because they were interested in his money.
Michael and Andrew Saigh said restaurateur and former marketing professor Bill Saigh was a profligate spender who maneuvered to make himself and Christine the main beneficiaries of Rose’s trust by getting Rose to approve two amendments after she was stricken with Alzheimer’s, including one that gave Bill Saigh durable power of attorney. “It was greed feeding greed,” Michael Saigh said after the appeals court hearing.
Following Michael and Andrew’s April settlement with Bill and Christine Saigh, St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Bernhardt Drumm Jr. issued a declaratory judgment stating that the last two amendments, the third and fourth made to the trust, were void, as was Bill Saigh’s power of attorney. In the judgment, Drumm said Rose Saigh had “lacked the capacity” to execute the documents, which were “the product of undue influence upon Rose Saigh by William Saigh…”
Drumm said in the judgment that the second amendment to the trust was in effect, meaning the remaining $1.7 million was to be given to Michael and Andrew Saigh.
Judge Drumm declined comment, other than saying what he told the parties at trial.
“My only comment to the parties in the Saigh case was that they had options in negotiating a settlement that I would not have in finding the facts and applying the law to those facts,” Drumm said.
Rose Saigh’s house was sold in September for $1.2 million, with Bill Saigh receiving $250,000 out of the sale proceeds as part of his $600,000 settlement, George said.
Bill and Christine Saigh could not be reached for comment, but claimed during the court case that Rose knowingly and willingly changed the beneficiaries of her estate out of fairness to her brother.
Rose’s former estate attorney, Edward Reilly, appeared to confirm Bill and Christine’s claims in a June 2004 deposition. Reilly quoted a memo he had made about a March 23, 2000, visit with Rose, saying Rose “expressed amazement” that Bill Saigh would receive only $25,000 from her trust, and indicated that she thought he should receive much more. According to Reilly, Rose also said that Bill and Michael should split most of the trust, with Michael, since he was younger, receiving a little more.
In a response to the lawsuit, Bill and Christine Saigh said that Fred Saigh Jr. had prepared Rose’s will, including naming beneficiaries and the amount they would receive, without Rose Saigh’s input. Michael and Andrew Saigh tried to “maintain a very close relationship” with Fred Saigh solely to benefit from his wealth, according to the response, which also said Bill and Christine “lacked sufficient information to either admit or deny that Defendant William Saigh is the natural father of Plaintiff Michael Saigh.”
When the paternity issue was brought up in court, Schmidt, Michael’s mother, volunteered to pay for a DNA test. Instead, only birth certificates were required, Schmidt said. “It hurt me a lot he said that in the courtroom.”

Devoted brother

Fred Saigh Jr. was well-known for a 5-year stint of ownership of the St. Louis Cardinals. When he sold the team in 1953, he picked as a new owner Anheuser-Busch Cos. so the Cardinals would remain in St. Louis, even though others had bid more.
After the sale of the Cardinals to Anheuser-Busch, Fred Saigh acquired the brewery’s stock, eventually becoming the largest shareholder aside from members of the Busch family.
Fred Saigh had been devoted throughout his life and especially in his last years to Rose – who never married, enjoyed her family and “was crazy about” her nephew Michael, and his only child, Andrew, plaintiffs’ attorney George said in an interview earlier this year. Rose had owned an operated a restaurant in the Railway Exchange Building downtown.
After Rose was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the fall of 1998, Fred set up 24-hour nursing care, enabling Rose to stay in her home on South Price Road across from the St. Louis Country Club. Fred had originally bought the home for their mother, Freida.
Fred Saigh died in December 1999 at the age of 94 – having accumulated a net worth estimated by family members at $400 million to $600 million.
Fred left a void filled by Bill Saigh – Rose’s youngest brother and only living sibling. Bill Saigh, who had a doctorate in marketing, taught the subject for over 20 years including at Saint Louis University, according to a 1987 article in U.S. Chamber of Commerce magazine Nation’s Business. Bill Saigh, now in his late eighties, married Christine when he was about 59 and she was 28. They launched and ran a chain of restaurants called Lettuce Leaf, which served mostly salads, for 17 years. The Saighs sold the chain to their bookkeeper in 1991, according to a July 12, 2005 deposition of Christine Saigh. The restaurants now are closed.
In January 2000 – a week after Fred Saigh’s funeral – Rose signed a durable power of attorney appointing Bill Saigh her attorney in fact.
According to court documents, Bill Saigh replaced Rose’s longtime doctor and fired estate attorney Reilly, saying in an undated excerpt of a deposition that Reilly took “unreasonable precautions.” Bill Saigh also disagreed with Reilly’s plan to send Rose to Dr. Jack Croughan for a medical evaluation, saying it was “insulting.”
Saigh hired past Missouri Bar president Michael Gunn as Rose’s attorney and removed Bank of America as corporate trustee, moving the trust to A.G. Edwards Trust.
Thomas Baygents, a real estate representative for Bank of America, testified in an October 2004 deposition that he believed the company was fired as trustee because Baygents didn’t approve of making any additions to Rose’s house, beyond improvements to make it compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
In his deposition, Saigh said he preferred A.G. Edwards Trust because both he and Fred Saigh had had long relationships with the company. Bill Saigh did some work for A.G. Edwards on the company’s broker training program as a doctorate student, Saigh said in the deposition.
In October 2000, Bill was made a co-trustee under a third amendment to the trust. His share of the inheritance was raised from $25,000 to about $1 million, according to the amendment, which was included in court filings.
In February 2001, Rose signed a fourth amendment to the trust, raising Bill Saigh’s share to $2 million and reducing Michael Saigh’s share to $250,000, according to a copy of the amendment in court filings. Four months later, Rose signed a first codicil to her will, moving the rest of her money to Bill Saigh.
Bill and Christine Saigh moved Rose to Clayton on the Park Hotel and sold $1.5 million worth of Rose’s Anheuser-Busch stock. Bill and Christine then renovated the house, including spending $374,000 on kitchen and bath improvements, installing a marble fireplace in Rose’s bedroom, and putting in a T1 line, George said.
Rose’s $2,700 a month rent at Clayton on the Park was to be paid to the end of the month in the event of her death, according to a lease included in court documents. “They (Bill and Christine) took a lease knowing she had months to live or less. They wanted to be prorated on rent,” George said at the appeals court hearing.

Trial testimony

Michael and Andrew Saigh originally filed suit in the fall of 2002. The case went through several lawyers’ hands before George took over as plaintiffs’ counsel – right after Judge Drumm was assigned the case in January 2006 and ordered the parties to trial in April.
“It was an old case and he rightfully wanted it resolved,” George said. “That put a lot of pressure on me to get this case ready for trial in less than 90 days.”
At trial, George called a series of Rose’s friends, family members and business acquaintances to paint the picture of her character, her relationship with her nephew, her declining health and her interaction with Bill and Christine Saigh. The lawsuit was settled before the defense presented its case.
Baygents testified in his deposition that Bill Saigh had once said to him that Rose “would sign anything you put in front of her.”
JoAnn Hejna, the executive director of the Saigh Charitable Foundation and Fred Saigh’s secretary and trusted associate for 45 years, said in a phone interview that she testified that Fred took care of Rose, but Rose made her own decisions as to what to do with her money.
Hejna’s testimony “put a big hole in the defense theory,” because Bill and Christine had argued that Fred had controlled Rose and directed where her money should go, and that after Fred’s death Rose was free to decide herself, George said.
Dr. Joseph Dooley, a St. Louis neurologist, testified in a May 2005 deposition that he diagnosed Rose with advanced Alzheimer’s in the fall of 1998. Dooley said that he gave Rose the “mini mental test,” which she failed completely because she did not know the year or the president, could not identify a key or a pencil, could not fold a piece of paper in half, could not draw a clock and could not repeat three words.
On two occasions, a CT scan revealed the left temporal lobe of Rose’s brain had dissolved to water. Dooley explained that part of the brain processes language, enabling one to understand spoken or written language.
On cross-examination, Bender said in an interview earlier this year, Dooley testified that during his examination, Rose left to go back to the bathroom. When she returned, they resumed the exam and Rose understood she was there to be asked questions – indicating her lucidity.
The second deposition of Croughan grew a little testy according to transcripts in the court filing. Bender contended that Croughan testified in his first deposition in October 2004 that Rose was legally competent, but changed his testimony in the second deposition in July 2005 after Croughan spoke with then-plaintiffs’ attorney Danny Curtis. According to the depositions, Croughan gave his impressions of Rose’s legal competency based on whether she knew the value of her estate; knew her family members; and knew who was still alive and would benefit from her estate. In October 2004, Croughan said she knew who the people in her family were, and fairly well who was alive, and Croughan had the impression that the value she gave of her estate was approximately correct.
In the 2005 deposition, Croughan said his evaluation changed because he was provided with additional information, including the CAT scans. Rose, he testified, was vague on the value of her estate, who the members of her family were, and who would benefit from her estate.
“After you talked to Mr. Curtis five or six times or so, and after he has provided you with documents, after he has paid you $600 an hour, you come in here and you tell us she had this (Alzheimer’s) for at least two, three or four years before 2000; is that what you are telling us?” Bender asked at the deposition, according to transcripts.
Curtis objected, saying Bender was badgering Croughan. Croughan responded that his answers weren’t inconsistent with his previous deposition. Curtis did not return a phone call asking about the testimony.
On cross-examination at the trial, Bender said he asked Croughan if he changed his testimony, and Croughan admitted he did. “His testimony became worthless because it was totally impeachable,” Bender said.
Croughan said through an assistant he was not interested in discussing the case with a reporter.

Other evidence did not make it to trial.

Mary Kemp, the head nurse who cared for Rose from 1998 until she died in 2002, and Rose’s other nurses kept detailed logs about Rose during the years of their care. The logs, which filled 13 spiral notebooks, were held by Kemp until June 2002, when Christine Saigh took them, according to Christine Saigh’s testimony in her deposition. Christine Saigh said the nurses’ logs got wet when one of the newly remodeled bathrooms flooded, and she had to throw the notebooks away.
Settlement and judgment
The testimony of Hejna, Reilly and William Schutte, Rose’s nephew, that Rose Saigh wanted Michael Saigh to have her house, saying she did not “want Bill to have the house – Michael gets it,” was believable, Drumm said in his judgment. Also believable, according to the judgment, was Kemp’s testimony that Bill Saigh threatened Rose and unduly influenced her to change her estate plans.
Juror Richard T. Vigus, an inventory manager at Monsanto who spoke with Missouri Lawyers about the Saigh case earlier this year, said the nurse was a “key witness.”
“It was apparent that (Rose) had been lied to or coerced into changing her will just before her death,” Vigus said.
Because of that testimony, Drumm found Bill Saigh’s durable power of attorney and the third and fourth amendments to the trusts were invalid.
George indicated satisfaction with the settlement, tempered with a hint of disappointment.
“Personally, I would have liked to have seen this case go to verdict because I think the jury would have spanked them,” he said. “But it was best for my clients to settle the case as we did.”
Bender said in the interview earlier this year that because the testimony of Dooley and Croughan “went down the tubes,” the plaintiffs didn’t have a witness to testify that Rose was incompetent. “That’s what led to this case being settled,” he said.
And because the plaintiffs owed roughly $850,000 in attorneys’ fees and settled with Bill and Christine Saigh for about $600,000 – including cash, the proceeds from the sale of Rose Saigh’s home and a confidential settlement from a separate will contest – when his clients were only entitled to $25,000 under the trust documents, Bender said his clients came out on top.
“The plaintiffs paid us almost $600,000 to settle when they thought we didn’t have a leg to stand on,” he said. “So if there was a real victor in the case, we think it was us.”