Ashton Coomansingh v Jean Thompson

GRENADA IN THE SUPREME COURT OF GRENADA AND THE WEST INDIES ASSOCIATED STATES HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE (CIVIL) CLAIM NO. GDAHCV2002l52'I BETWEEN: ASHTON COOMANSINGH AND JEAN THOMPSON Appearances: Mrs. Celia Edwards, Q.C. with Ms. Sabrita Khan for the Claimant Mr. Ruggles Ferguson for the Defendant 2011: April 8th JUDGMENT [1 J HENRY, J.: The claimant is the brother of Conrad Coomansingh (Conrad), deceased -( hn defendant is the niece of the claimant and of Conrad. Conrad died on 5th July, 2000, Bet)"!') '1i:, death, Conrad executed a will dated 9th October, 1974 In which he named the daimant onE'lf 'Ii:, executors. By this will he devised all the remainder of his estate, after the payment of hi~ Je')ts and funeral expenses, to the claimant. By asubsequent purported will dated 4th February 19D2, Conrad revoked all previous wills and the defendant was named the executor and sale ben\~TiGj;il":! of his estate. A grant of probate of the said will dated 4th February, 1992 was made L: lhp defendant by the Supreme Court on 10th August 2000. Conrad's estate comprises 2 acres y lami in Grenada and amedallion 7G40 to operate aTaxi Cab in New York City. The claimant claims in this action (1) revocation of the grant of probate made to the defendant or! 10th August, 2000; (2) that the Court pronounce against the validity of the pretend will of ConrHd deceased dated 4th February, 1992 and against the purported marriage on 16th September c 98: and (3) to declare that the will of the deceased dated 9th October, 1974 do stand and be acr i!tt+: to probate.

[3]The claimant asserts that the purported will of Conrad dated 4th February, 1992 anc prob&ttd J) the defendant on 10th August, 2000 is a false will in that Conrad did not sign and/or exect:t.~ he' same. The claimant's contention is that the signature of "Conrad Coomansingh" on the v.l wa~ made by Jonah Fleming, one of the witnesses.

[4]In her defence, the defendant asserts the due execution of the will dated 4th Februa:y, 1992 tha by this will the deceased revoked all previous wills and testamentary dispositions, and that the \iii dated 9th October, 1974 was accordingly revoked. The defendant admits the marriage tIl tlE' deceased in 1985 but pleads that it was annulled by the New York State Supreme Court in ;\.lgUS 1987. She therefore prays that the claimant's claim be rejected. The defendant also counter::;,;jilm, that the court do pronounce against the alleged will of the deceased dated 9th October, '1974.

Issue

[5]The sole issue is whether the will dated 4th February 1992 was duly executed by Conrad.

Burden of Proof

[6]Probate and letters of administration with a will annexed, while unrevoked, are cl)nclusive bV (.n:;E· of the due execution and validity of the will, Halsbury Laws of England, 4th E:t, para. 76 j T'IE burden of proof is therefore on claimant to prove, on a balance of probabilities, ~he invalidity i ':rl~' will as alleged.

The Law

[7]Section 6of the Wills Act Cap. 340 provides in part: "No will hereafter made shall be valid unless it is in writing, and signed ill the rJ;,<l1 ,f) hereinafter required by the testator or by some other person in his presence and t ',' l!~. direction; and unless the signature is made or acknowledged by him in tne presence (d tN(' or more witnesses present at the same time, who shall attest and SUbscribe the wil n nil; presence; but no form of attestation shall be necessary," [8J If awill, on the face of it appears to be duly executed, the presumption is in favoJr of due exu(dLH! Re Musgrove's Estate, Davis v Mayhew [1927] P 264; Re Dennning, Harnett v Elliott [:hcl :~ All ER 1. Where the testator's and witnesses' signatures appear in the right places and ther ~ IS 9r! attestation clause, very strong evidence indeed is needed before it is possible ior thu court t j f;"HI that the will was not duly executed. See also Briscoe v Green [2006] All ER 182. EV(if;r w sufficient to rebut the presumption must be positive and reliable Glover v Smith (188fi) 57L1 !

The Evidence

Claimant's Case

[9]In asserting that the will was not signed by Conrad Coomansingh the claimant relies )i t:JE, evidence of Jean Peetz adocument examiner. Between 1988 and 2001, Ms. Peetz completd·j 26E! hours of professional training with the World Association of Document Examiners (WADE:. S1~' has during her career, made some 27 court appearances, mostly in the State of New York IJJ:1UE, she is based.

[10]Her evidence is that in 2002 she was provided with certain documents for examination ana (Jpmtor; as to whether Conrad Coomansingh, deceased, or someone else signed the name :I( :n:lr3C Coomansingh" on the will dated 4th Febmary, 1992. She was provided with 5 documents: 4 iJi inE! 5 were represented as known signatures of the testator, Conrad Coomansingh 1 was repre,i'nr3c: as the questioned signature of Conrad Coomansingh.

[11]In 2006, she was provided with copies of further documents for examination and .Jpinioris 1: whether the person who signed as the first witness on the will of 4th February, 1992 was thE :,gt1E person who also made the alleged signature "Conrad Coomansingh" on the said will. mE waf· provided with 3 additional documents: 2 represented as known signatures of Conrad eooma l:iinF and 1 was the signature page of the will of 4th February, 1992 bearing the signature of "cn:t Fleming.

[12]All of the documents provided to Jean Peetz were copies. The copies of signatures provided t [,81 covered an 18 year period between 1974 and 1992.

[13]Ms. Peetz's opinion can be summed up as follows: (a) Due to the many differences observed the witness can say, with a reasonable de:]:,ef c1 certainty, that someone other than Conrad Coomansingh signed the documj;"t propounded as the last will and testament of the said Conrad Coornansingh datd 4\11 February, 1992. (b) Due to the approximately equal number of differences and similadties noted ih1 comparison of the purported signature of Conrad Coomansingh on the will datf~,j 4111 February, 1992 and the signature of Jonah Fleming on the same document, it is plot}a'Jl!; that the person who signed as the first witness on the said document also signed thf' .a, n!~ of Conrad Coomansingh.

[14]Her evidence is that she has expressed her opinion in terms of probability because as a dOCI!11Hnt expert, she cannot give an opinion in absolute terms when the data upon which sne bm:Ec 'ler opinion is contained in copies as opposed to originals, which is the situation in the instan: !.83E. She concludes by confirming her opinion that it is reasonably certain that Conrad Goomer,sir gil deceased did not sign the document propounded by the defendant as his Last Will dated 411 February, 1992, and that it is probable that the person who signed as witness "Jonah Flemint aso signed the name "Conrad Coomansingh" on the said document.

[15]On cross-examination it was suggested to Ms. Peetz that in the examination of spt}t;lrnell signatures the recommended number of signatures that one should have for examinatior':,,'C. Her response was "no"; that there was no stated number. However she admitted that eXarlHnfm; are encouraged to get as many signatures as they can, so that they can have more to work Nlth, especially when dealing with a person with changing signatures. It was further put tJ her t'1-lL [he more contemporaneous the known signatures are to the questioned signature the more rElJat)je would be the examiner's findings. She agreed that generally that was so. She admitted tha~ 11 lrw principles of forensic document examination, 18 years was not considered contemporaneo 1, .1U( stated that she was limited to what the client could get.

[16]With regard to her findings, she stated that reasonable degree of certainty :neans reasT ,aDlf! degree of probability. She was asked whether "highly probable" is the same as "reas) "a!)i(! degree of probability". Her response was that they are not. "Highly probable" .5 the h'g hest Jr; JISt' .. one can have when dealing with documents that are not originals, as in this case. She fJrt'lEr explained that if the examiner is dealing with original documents, he or she can say the persPIl jjd or did not do whatever. But if the examiner does not have originals, he or she is not allowed :1.' U:il: that expression because a lot of changes can come about when a person reproduces adocurnHI.. Examiners, therefore, can only use terms of certainty if they are dealing with originals. Th,~ scal.; from lowest to highest is: possible/probable> moderately possible> reasonable probability: b,~n degree of probability. .[17] With regard to her opinion to the second request made in 2006, her evidence i3 that she L1~;f;d hi; term "probable" because she had only one copy of the writing and when she made the com;).,rifoil there was not enough evidence to give anything more than apossibility.

[18]The Claimant also gave evidence. His evidence centered on his relationship v/ith his brett f I (r:d why he felt his brother would not have made a will in the terms of the 1992 will. According t(· hr: , he and Conrad lived together in New York and both owned Medallions. In '1974, he ana .; ,n'del formed a corporation, Pall Taxi Corporation in Brooklyn. The corporation consisted Jt a m:'1! fk~t;t of two medallions. According to claimant, he put up the money for the down payment 'h~ medallions and Conrad stated that if anything should happen to him, they (the medallions: l';oJid all go to claimant. In the 1974 will all of Conrad's estate was devised to claimant. However it 'hn 1992 will one of the medallions was devised to defendant. The other medallion was not menliured in the will and is in the possession of the claimant. The bequest of the medallion to the defendant is therefore the 'bone of contention' betwE-E-n the parties. The claimant alleges that Conrad was never the same after his visit to Grenada ir 19~10; that he never 'regained his senses'; that he could not have made a will in 1992 and tha[ 'flulH particularly he could not have left the medallion to defendant.

Defendant's Case

[19]Both attesting witnesses to the will, Dr. Keith Johnson and Mr. Jonah Fleming,~ave eviden>.. Johnson's evidence is that he is a medical doctor engaged in private practice at Ben Jones ~tieet. Grenville. He states that he knows both the defendant, Jean Thompson and her uncle h' IdlE' Conrad Coomansingh; that in April 1991, Conrad had visited him at the office at Ben Jones ~)Jf:et for medical attention. In regard to his witnessing the signing of he will, Dr. Johnson's eviduce i~ that on 4th February, 1992, sometime in the afternoon he was at his office wnen he receiver E! telephone call from the law office of Mr. 1.1 Duncan. He spoke to Conrad on ihe telephone ano agreed to act as a witness to his will. Dr. Johnson's evidence is that at about ~::OO p.m. thE ,3mE day he went across to Mr. Duncan's office. There Mr. Duncan explained to hlm the purplJse:(J' which Conrad had called him; that Mr. Duncan then read Conrad's will in his presence and 3~K ir the presence of Conrad and Mr. Jonah Fleming, whom he had met sitting on the veranda, ar.(· VI''lCl had been called into the office. According to him, after Mr. Duncan read th'~ Will, Conrad signed it, then Jonah Fleming signed as a witness and then he, Dr. Jonnsop, sigm:c a:S(J as a witness. He is adamant that the will was signed by Conrad and that both he and \ i.W3t, Fleming saw him sign and that they both signed in Conrad's presence. With regard to the (y(l';1 0': the signing he says that he saw Conrad sign then Jonah Fleming then he signed.

[20]Dr. Johnson's evidence is that he would have seen Jonah Fleming driving Mr. )uncan fOfl ;)i of years, but that he only got to now his name when he, Dr. Johnson, went to witness the will.; ,VlcH before that day, he would not have been familiar with Jonah Flemings signature. It was sugj8Sied to him on cross-examination, that a document was presented to him and he simply signed it Hl~; response was, 'a document was presented to me in the presence of Conrad, ~Ionah Flemi:lq and Mr. Duncan and I signed as the second of two witnesses.' It was put to Dr. Johnson directly 'h2t it was Jonah Fleming who signed the name Conrad Coomansingh on the will. His response was, 'I don't accept that, it's not tnJe.' He stated emphatically that he did see Conrad sign his wi!; i;,l 4t1 February, 1992.

[21]The other witness Jonah Fleming also gave evidence. His evidence is that he is a Ghauff€LJI cr.<I worked with the lawyer 1.1 Duncan as his driver for 18 years. He states that on 4th February 99;2, he was on the veranda of Mr. Duncan's office. At the time, Mr. Duncan and Conrad \~oomensir gh were in the office. According to him at about 2:00 p.m. Dr. Keith Johnson came and went iii ,Ar. Duncan's office. While he was sitting there, he was called into Mr. Duncan s office, thH- Ar. Conrad Coomansingh asked him if he could witness his will for him as the ,)ther pHrson \ r ) j-co had asked to be witness did not come. He agreed to do so.

[22]In regard to the execution of the will, his evidence is that Mr. Duncan read the will in the pru ilr:~t of Conrad, Dr. Johnson and himself; that Conrad then signed the will; he sinned and the, ")r Johnson signed. His evidence is that when Conrad signed, both he and Dr. Johnson were ~ r~)Sf ~rI: and saw him sign and that he and Dr. Johnson signed as witnesses in the presance of eacll (tie" and in the presence of Conrad.

[23]On cross-examination, it was put to him that Conrad did not sign the will. He repliHd, 'I sr'\ III' Coomansingh sign the will.' It was further put to him that he, Jonah Fleming, had signed thE :31 (lE~ Conrad Coomansingh on the will. He replied "never." Findings and Conclusions

[24]Ms. Peetz's findings were not stated in the highest degree of certainty possible, even for CO)les of documents. She could only state with a reasonable degree of certaintyforobability, as oppcF-:d tel the highest degree of probability, that Conrad did not sign the February 1992 will. And sh(- -;oulc only say that it is 'probable' that Jonah Fleming is the person who signed the name C(),llac Coomansingh on the will.

[25]The evidence of the claimant was not of much assistance. Understandable he could give '1(' evidence in regard to the due execution of the will, since he was not in Grenada 3t the time,

[26]On the other hand, both attesting witnesses gave credible evidence and stood up well to (ro:;:;­ examination. I found Dr, Johnson to be a credible witness. No reason was suggested 'I.t '.' D~, Johnson would concoct a story about seeing Conrad sign his will on the date in question "Vi la( would he have to gain? Nor is there any evidence on the record of any ill will between the: :)([0' and the claimant.

[27]Similarly, no reason was suggested why Jonah Fleming would sign tile name (;,.11 at Coomansingh on the will. The un-contradicted evidence is that Conrad was prE:sent on the {LlY al the office of his AttQrn~y, 1.1. Duncan. Under those circumstances, why would Jonah Flemiq s:gf! Conrad's name? Despite rigorous cross-examination on the process of eXE:cution of t~ € will, including the position of the will on the desk and whether all parties used the same pen Jonah Fleming to be acredible witness. .. •

[28]While I understand that the apparent change of heart on Conrad's part in devising the meduln! tJ defendant may be upsetting to claimant. I accept the evidence of the two attesting witnes38s D". Johnson and Jonah Fleming that they were present and saw Conrad Coomansign sign thell,H ilnj that they both signed as witnesses in Conrad's presence.

[29]On the face of the will there is apparent due execution. Conrad's as well as t"le wih~s~ei' signatures are in their, correct places. Not only is there an attestation clause, but in addit!)~;, :hs court has the credible evidence of the two witnesses. In light of this, I find that the evi,J811(;3 presented by the claimant is insufficient to meet his heavy burden. I therefore find that the claimant has failed to discharge his burden of proof. I find that the wi.! C!8re,j 4th February 1992 was duly executed in accordance with section 6of the Wills Act.

[30]Accordingly, judgment is granted as follows: 1. In favour of the defendant dismissing the claim; 2. Claimant do pay to the defendant cost in the sum of $7,000.00

GRENADA IN THE SUPREME COURT OF GRENADA AND THE WEST INDIES ASSOCIATED STATES HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE (CIVIL) CLAIM NO. GDAHCV2002l52’I BETWEEN: ASHTON COOMANSINGH AND JEAN THOMPSON Appearances: Mrs. Celia Edwards, Q.C. with Ms. Sabrita Khan for the Claimant Mr. Ruggles Ferguson for the Defendant 2011: April 8th JUDGMENT [1 J HENRY, J.: The claimant is the brother of Conrad Coomansingh (Conrad), deceased -( hn defendant is the niece of the claimant and of Conrad. Conrad died on 5th July, 2000, Bet)"!') '1i:, death, Conrad executed a will dated 9th October, 1974 In which he named the daimant onE’lf 'Ii:, executors. By this will he devised all the remainder of his estate, after the payment of hi~ Je’)ts and funeral expenses, to the claimant. By asubsequent purported will dated 4th February 19D2, Conrad revoked all previous wills and the defendant was named the executor and sale ben\~TiGj;il":! of his estate. A grant of probate of the said will dated 4th

February, 1992 was made L: lhp defendant by The Supreme Court on 10th August 2000. Conrad’s estate comprises 2 acres y lami in Grenada and amedallion 7G40 to operate aTaxi Cab in New York City. [2J The claimant claims in this action (1) revocation of the grant of probate made to the defendant or! 10th August, 2000 (2) that The Court pronounce against the validity of the pretend will of ConrHd deceased dated 4th February, 1992 and against the purported marriage on 16th September c 98: