Lipps v Lipps

Page 1

September 2, 2005

John W. Bonney, Esquire John W. Bonney, P.C. 5442 Tidewater Drive Norfolk, VA 23509 Duncan G. Byers, Esquire Joseph R. Lassiter, Jr., Esquire Rephan Lassiter, P.L.C. 500 E. Main Street, Suite 1200 Norfolk, VA 23510

Re:

Betty Rosemond Lipps Russell, et. al. v. John Douglas Lipps, etc., et. al. Circuit Court of Norfolk, In Chancery No. CH05-357

Gentlemen: On February 10, 2005 the plaintiffs, Betty Rosemond Lipps Russell and Norman N. Lipps (hereinafter “the plaintiffs”) filed a Bill of Complaint naming the following persons as defendants: John Douglas Lipps, the proponent of the last will and testament and codicil of Mary B. Lipps, deceased, Suzanne Lipps, Martha Ann Lipps Ford, Sharon R. Hillstrom, John Douglas Lipps (individual) and the estate of Mary B. Lipps, deceased (hereinafter “the defendants”). In the Bill of Complaint the plaintiffs “pray that an issue devisavit vel non be made up and tried by jury at the bar of this Court to ascertain whether the said paper writing dated June 26, 2003 is or is not the true Last Will and Testament of Mary B. Lipps”, and further request that the probate of that document be set aside and, further, that said document “be declared and adjudged not to be the Last Will and Testament of Mary B. Lipps”. The Bill of Complaint concludes with a final prayer that the Court decree that Mary B. Lipps “died in testate, without a valid Last Will and Testament”. The defendants thereafter filed a demurrer and plea in bar contending, in effect, that this Court’s resolution of two earlier, related cases serve to foreclose litigation of the issues raised in the Bill of Complaint. 1 The defendants responded with a Motion to Strike Plaintiff’s Demurrer and a 1 The previous litigation consisted of the Verified Petition to Admit a Copy of the Last Will and Testament and Original Codicil of Mary B. Lipps to Probate, In Chancery No., CH04-1122, filed May 7, 2004, and the lawsuit styled Betty Rosemond Lipps Russell, et. al. v. John Douglas Lipps, etc., et. al., In Chancery No.: CH04-1277,


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