PARIS — The Attorney General’s Office has formally stepped into an Oxford County civil battle over trust funds left by Barbara Thorpe to provide “shelter, food and health care for abandoned and unwanted cats in the town of Dixfield.”

Thorpe, who died in 2002, left the bulk of her $200,000 estate in her last will and testament to the abandoned cats of Dixfield. According to the plaintiffs, which include five women who have been caring for the cats for more than a decade, they’ve received a little more than a few thousand dollars for the cats’ care.

In January, the town of Dixfield and cat caretakers Brenda Jarvis, Donna Weston, Noreen Clark, Valerie Warriner and Caroline Smith filed suit against Thorpe estate trustees Gertrude Crosby, Bentley Crosby and Charlotte Mesko and their attorney, David Austin, claiming the trust had not been properly administered to benefit the stray cats in Dixfield.

Defendants have denied those allegations, claiming they have fulfilled their obligations under the Thorpe Trust and that the cat caretakers have no standing to sue them. In addition, the trustees claim the allegations made against them exceed the six-year statute of limitations plaintiffs had to file their lawsuit.

The same day that defendants denied the allegations, the AG’s Office filed a cross-claim petition in which attorneys Christina Moylan and Linda Conti — on behalf of Attorney General Janet Mills — allege “the annual distributions for the trust purposes were less than the minimums required by the Thorpe Trust terms and the Oxford County Probate Court” in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010.

According to the AG’s petition, “the failure of the Trustees to make distributions of annual income constitutes a breach of duty to administer the Thorpe Trust as a prudent person would,” and “the Trustees’ transfer of the charitable assets of the Thorpe Trust to the for-profit Thorpe Corp. constitutes a breach of duty to administer the Thorpe Trust as a prudent person would.”

The Thorpe Trust was closed in 2013 to create the William M. & Barbara N. Thorpe Memorial Corp., according to a sworn statement filed with the court by trustee Gertrude Crosby. The assets from the trust were moved to the corporation.

In 2014, the corporation’s investments earned $4,729, according to Crosby’s affidavit, and corporation directors sent a $500 check to Jarvis and a $500 check to the Franklin County Animal Shelter to help care for cats.

In March 2015, the corporation donated another $500 to the animal shelter and forwarded $500 to Jarvis in June 2015, specifically for cat care.

In the time since the corporation was formed, Crosby’s affidavit notes that her husband, Bentley Crosby, Mesko and herself were each paid $1,500 “consisting of $1,000 each in 2014 and $500 each in 2015” in directors’ fees to disburse money for the cats.

In its petition to the court, the AG’s Office requested the court require a final accounting of the trust assets at the time it was converted to the Thorpe Corp., and to “require the trustees to transfer all assets held by the Thorpe Corp. to an existing professional foundation or a new charitable trust established to carry out the purposes of the Thorpe Trust.”

Despite objections from the caretakers over the AG’s intervention, Justice Robert Clifford has permitted the AG to become a cross-claim plaintiff in the case. Clifford has further ordered the case frozen until further order of the court.

The lawsuit was filed by Rumford attorney Seth Carey in late January, but several weeks later, Carey was placed on two years probation by the Board of Overseers of the Bar for failing to properly discharge his professional duties. He was ordered to turn over his current caseload to other attorneys, so the plaintiffs in this case — including the town of Dixfield — have asked the court for time to seek new counsel.

Carey’s father, attorney Thomas Carey, volunteered to fill in on the case via a letter to the court dated March 3, writing, “I enter my appearance as substitute counsel for plaintiff at this time and at the time Seth Carey is cleared to resume litigation I plan to stay on as co-counsel.”

The younger Carey has appealed the disciplinary action and, under an interim order signed by Supreme Judicial Court Justice Ellen Gorman, is not required to comply with the probationary restrictions until a hearing is set on his appeal. 

He has continued to be active in the caretakers’ case, filing petitions and letters with the court, as his clients actively search for a new attorney.

In a filing dated March 22, Carey addressed the plaintiffs’ objection to freezing the case. “Specifically, plaintiffs object to defendants’ statement that ‘by agreement of the parties … the status quo … be preserved.’ This is clearly not an agreement by plaintiffs. Did the defendants leave plaintiffs’ objections out of its proposed order so that plaintiffs would not have a basis for appeal?”

Defendants have filed a motion to dismiss the entire case, reiterating that the town and caretakers have no standing to sue, and noting the just-added “Attorney General is the only party with standing to assert claims in the public interest with regard to protection of the public charity at issue in this case.”

Attorney David Austin has filed a separate motion to be dismissed as a defendant.

The motions are pending.

According to court records, Jarvis estimates the caretakers have received less than $3,000 from the Thorpe Trust to care for the cats since 2002. The trust has paid more than $16,000 in attorney fees and $22,679 to trustees.

Defendants claim the trust has paid out more than $12,000 to the beneficiary cats, and that fees paid to attorneys and trustees have been usual and customary in managing the trust.

The Board of Overseers of the Bar has scheduled a conference regarding Carey’s disciplinary appeal at 9 a.m. Friday, April 15, in Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland.

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