PLEASE NOTE: All case results listed on our website have either been published previously by various entities unrelated to Lichtenstein Fishwick & Johnson, plc, or have been prepared by us for dissemination to visitors to our website. The results obtained in specific cases depend on a variety of factors. It is generally impossible to know all factors that have influenced a specific result or an accumulation of specific results. Each legal matter consists of circumstances that are peculiar or unique to the specific case. The result obtained under one set of circumstances cannot be a predictor of the result likely to be obtained in a case that necessarily involves different circumstances. You should draw no conclusions about your particular legal matter from reading these accounts.

CEMETERY

Date: Thursday, May 11, 2006
Section: BUSINESS
Page: C8
Byline: Ray Reed ray.reed@roanoke.com

Sherwood Memorial Park's president, Randy Gleason, has won a legal battle for control of the Salem cemetery and its assets, said to be worth several million dollars.

Judge Kenneth Trabue signed an order Wednesday designating Gleason, his sister Jean Taylor, and office manager Gail Zimmerman as the officers and directors of the 26,000-plot cemetery. Care of the cemetery grounds never changed during the court battle, and owners of plots were not affected by the dispute.

The ruling closed a case of boardroom intrigue that went public in Salem Circuit Court in October, after another group tried to install itself as the cemetery's board of directors.

That group consisted of Andrew Brizzolara, Thomas D. Weaver, David Walker and John A. Cross Jr. Trabue ordered them to take no further action in the management of Sherwood.

The group's lawyer, Kevin Oddo, said it has 30 days to decide whether to appeal.

Maneuvers by the two groups started in September when the Brizzolara group members acted to replace Sherwood's board. They issued checks to pay off the small amount of debt owned by the cemetery's 12 surviving investors; adopted new bylaws; and suspended Gleason as president.

A majority of the investors met later and voted to remove the Brizzolara group as directors and install Gleason, Taylor and Zimmerman as the board.

That conflict catapulted the dispute into court, with the Brizzolara group contending the investors no longer had the authority that came with their original investments.

In the meantime, the Brizzolara group held several meetings and paid each member $700 per meeting -- $60,000 altogether, according to lawyers' arguments at a hearing in October.

At that hearing, lawyers said the cemetery controls unspecified "millions of dollars" in securities and trust assets. Trabue ordered that Gleason continue as president until the case was resolved, and that he keep both groups informed of any decisions beyond routine management actions.

Major actions, such as starting work on a new building or acquiring new property, were prohibited. Trabue's ruling Wednesday ended that restriction.

Gleason said Wednesday that he and the other two board members haven't thought about whether to replace the cemetery's crowded administration building or buy property.

His attorney, John Fishwick, said Gleason "looks forward to continued service to the lot owners of Sherwood and citizens of Salem and the Roanoke Valley."

Gleason has worked at the cemetery since 1974 and has been president for 15 years.

Attorneys:

• John Fishwick

Practice areas:

• Product Liability

Lichtenstein Fishwick & Johnson PLC
Liberty Trust Building
Suite 400, 101 South Jefferson Street
P.O. Box 601
Roanoke, Virginia 24004-0601
Phone: 540-343-9711
Telefax: 540-343-9713
info@vatrials.com | Disclaimer

Charlottesville Office
401 E. Market Street, Suite 105
Charlottesville, VA 22902

© Lichtenstein Fishwick & Johnson PLC