ROBERT A. MARTIN, ET AL. v. ROBERT E. MARTIN, ET AL. - Articles

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ROBERT A. MARTIN, ET AL. v. ROBERT E. MARTIN, ET AL.

Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Jul 24, 2025

Court: TN Court of Appeals

Attorneys 1: Matthew J. McClanahan, Crossville, Tennessee, for the appellants, Robert E. Martin and Karen Martin.

Attorneys 2: Charles W. Gilbreath, II, and Stephan R. Wright, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellee, Donna Saas.

Judge(s): SWINEY

Robert A. Martin (“Father”) and Donna Saas (“Daughter”) (collectively “Plaintiffs”) filed a petition in the Chancery Court for Cumberland County (“the Trial Court”), seeking the removal of Robert E. Martin (“Son”) as trustee of the Martin Irrevocable Trust (“the Trust”) and making claims of breach of fiduciary duty and conversion of assets against Son and his wife, Karen Martin (“Son’s Wife”) (collectively, with Son, “Defendants”). The Trial Court struck Defendants’ defenses and denials in their answer given their failure to provide an accounting of the Trust’s assets despite the Trial Court’s orders to do so. After a hearing on damages, the Trial Court awarded Daughter half of the asset that was supposed to have been put in the Trust, half of the funds that Son had converted from Father’s accounts, attorney’s fees, punitive damages, and lost wages. Defendants appeal. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm.

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