Bruntjen v. Van Exel

506 F.Supp.3d 673

Justin Andrew BRUNTJEN, Esq., Plaintiff,

v.Raffles VAN EXEL; White Wiggins & Barnes, LLP; Ward Allen White IV, Kennedy Lowell Barnes; James W. Tippin & Associates; and Keith Anthony Cutler, Defendants.

Civil No. 20-cv-1832 (MJD/KMM)

United States District Court, D. Minnesota.

Signed December 11, 2020

Lee A. Hutton, III, Elefterakis, Elefterakis & Panek, Counsel for Plaintiff.

Christopher Proczko and Robin M. Wolpert, Sapientia Law Group, PLLC, and Keith A. Cutler, Counsel for Defendants James W. Tippin & Associates and Keith Anthony Cutler.

M. Gregory Simpson and Laura E. Kuipers, Counsel for Defendants White, Wiggins & Barnes, LLP, Ward Allen White IV and Kennedy Lowell Barnes.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Michael J. Davis, United States District Judge

This matter is before the Court on the motion of Defendants James W. Tippin & Associates and Keith Anthony Cutler (collectively "Tippin") to dismiss [Doc. No. 9] and the motion of Defendants White, Wiggins & Barnes, LLP, Ward Allen White IV and Kennedy Lowell Barnes (collectively "WWB") to dismiss [Doc. No. 19].

I. Summary

The music artist Prince died in 2016. Because he did not leave a will, his estate has been engaged in a years long battle to divide his assets. The case before this Court is an offshoot of that litigation, and it involves the strange story of how one of Prince's heirs was allegedly taken advantage of by a group of people. One of these individuals, Raffles van Exel, has also been connected to the deaths of other famous music celebrities, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson. As alleged in this case, Raffles befriended one of Prince's half-siblings, Alfred Jackson, after it became known that Jackson would inherit a share of Prince's Estate. Unfortunately, Alfred Jackson has passed away, and after his death, a will was uncovered which purports to assign all of Alfred Jackson's estate - which is estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars – to Raffles.

But this case actually involves one of Alfred Jackson's attorneys, and how the same group of people allegedly went to great lengths to interfere in that attorney-client relationship in order to get closer to Alfred Jackson – and his inheritance.

Currently before the Court are motions to dismiss from those defendants that are attorneys alleged to have been part Raffle's alleged plan to take advantage of Alfred Jackson and to get Plaintiff fired as Jackson's attorney. For the reasons discussed below, the Court will grant Tippin's motion, as those defendants merely served as local counsel for WWB, but will deny the motion of WWB, as the allegations in the Complaint sufficiently demonstrate that this Court has jurisdiction over WWB and that fact questions prevent the application of immunity from suit.

II. Factual Allegations

Plaintiff is a licensed attorney in Minnesota, who became legal counsel to Alfred Jackson, the half-brother of Prince, who died intestate in April 2016. In his complaint, Plaintiff alleges that Jackson was approached by Defendant Raffles van Exel ("Raffles"). (Comp. ¶ 11.) Plaintiff alleges that Raffles has claimed to have "guided" many celebrities, including Quinton Aaron from the film "The Blind Side," Peter Lamas of Lamas Beauty, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Patti LaBelle, Lance Bass, Flavor Flav, George Benson and the late Ray Charles. (Id. ¶ 12.) Plaintiff further alleges that Raffles has a "colored history" involving some of these celebrities. For example, Raffles was in the hotel room at, or shortly after, Whitney Houston was found dead and he allegedly removed evidence from the room prior to the police arriving, and that he provided her cocaine shortly before her death. (Id. ¶¶ 14 and 15.)

Plaintiff alleges that immediately following Prince's death, Raffles called Jackson's brother, Bruce Jackson, and told him to take Jackson out of the long-term care facility he was living at in Waite Park, Minnesota. (Id. ¶ 29.) Raffles then flew to Minneapolis and met with Alfred Jackson and his brother Bruce. (Id. ¶ 30.) Raffles claimed that he had previously worked for Prince and convinced Jackson to sign a "Letter of Agreement" by which Raffles would be paid ten percent by Jackson. (Id. ¶ 31, Ex. 1.) Raffles then introduced Jackson to Frank Wheaton, who is a friend and attorney of Raffles. (Id. ¶ 32.) Thereafter, Jackson retained Wheaton to represent him in Prince's probate matter. (Id. ¶ 33.). Plaintiff alleges that Jackson then engaged Plaintiff in late April 2016 to serve as local counsel under the direction of Wheaton. (Id. ¶ 33¹ .)

Plaintiff alleges that for months, Raffles ran a "con" on Jackson, trying to find ways to benefit from his status as an heir to Prince's estate. (Id. ¶ 35.) For example, he gained access to awards shows by attending with Jackson, and acted as his gopher, to further ingratiate himself. (Id. ) Then, in late December 2016 or early January 2017, Raffles brought Jackson to a Wells Fargo bank in Minneapolis and had Jackson open an account in both Raffle's and Jackson's name. (Id. ¶ 36.) Jackson immediately told his brother Bruce about the account, and Jackson and his family ceased communicating with Raffles thereafter. (Id. ¶ 37.) In March 2017, Wheaton was terminated as Jackson's attorney, and Plaintiff assumed the role as primary counsel. (Id. ¶ 39.)

Plaintiff alleges that in the beginning of 2018, Jackson again began having contact with Raffles. (Id. ¶ 40.) In August 2018, Raffles began a campaign to get Plaintiff fired as Jackson's attorney, telling him that Plaintiff was racist and that he didn't like Black people. (Id. ¶ 43.) He sent Jackson's brother Bruce a copy of a document entitled "termination of employment and representation" and instructed him to have Jackson sign it and then send it back to Raffles and others. (Id. ¶ 47.) Raffles also engaged WWB to get Plaintiff fired. (Id. ¶¶ 50, 51.) On November 2, 2018, Plaintiff was replaced as counsel for Jackson by WWB. (Id. ¶ 54.)

Plaintiff alleges that on December 6, 2018, he received an email from WWB requesting Jackson's files. (Id. ¶ 60.) At some point, Plaintiff learned that Jackson had terminated WWB's representation on December 2, 2018. (Id. ¶ 62.) On December 14, 2018, Plaintiff received a call from Michael Lythcott, an agent who had worked with Jackson to obtain a loan from Primary Wave. (Id. ¶¶ 55 and 63.) Lythcott stated that he was with Bruce, Jackson and Raffles at Jackson's home in Missouri, and that they had been told by Ward White at WWB that Plaintiff had stolen $500,000 from Jackson in December 2017. (Id. ¶ 63.) White allegedly told Jackson, Lythcott and Bruce Jackson that he and Kennedy Barnes of WWB had spent hours at the bank with Jackson and that there was no record of Jackson receiving any money from Plaintiff in December 2017. (Id. ¶ 64.) Plaintiff immediately sent Lythcott a copy of the wire confirmation that $450,000 (less $50,000 for Plaintiff's fees) had been wired to Jackson's account. (Id. ¶ 65.) White and Barnes continued to insist that Jackson never received the money. (Id. ¶ 66.)

On December 21, 2018, Plaintiff received an email from Barnes with a letter attached stating that Plaintiff had deducted $100,000 from a disbursement without authority and again asked for Jackson's file. (Id. ¶ 68.) Plaintiff responded that the allegations were fabricated and had no basis in fact and demanded that WWB stop spreading falsities about him and informed them he believed their comments were defamatory and easily proven false. (Id. ¶ 69.) Plaintiff further stated he was aware that WWB had been terminated and that before he would provide WWB any documents, he needed written authorization from Jackson. (Id. )

On January 31, 2019, Plaintiff received an email from Barnes with a complaint attached, accusing him of stealing $500,000 from Jackson. (Id. ¶ 70.) The complaint was filed by Barnes and Keith Cutler, of the Missouri law firm of James W. Tippin and Associates, in the United States District Court, Western District of Missouri. (Id. ) Plaintiff alleges that a simple review of Jackson's bank statements would have shown the allegations were false. (Id. ¶ 75.)

On February 1, 2019, Plaintiff received an email from Ryan Naumann, a producer at TheBlast.com, an online media source, asking for a comment regarding the missing $500,000. (Id. ¶ 77.) Plaintiff called Barnes, telling him of this contact, and demanded that he dismiss the complaint. (Id. ¶ 76.) On February 5, 2019, the lawsuit was dismissed. (Id. ¶ 80.) The next day, February 6, 2019, TheBlast.com published an article that was based on the allegation that Plaintiff stole $500,000 from Jackson. (Id. ¶ 81.) The article was picked up by additional media outlets. (Id. ¶ 83.)

On February 12, 2019, Jackson hired the law firm of Chestnut Cambronne PA ("Chestnut") to represent his interests in the Prince Estate. (Id. ¶ 84.) On that date, Chestnut filed a Notice of Termination signed by Jackson, stating that WWB had been terminated on December 8, 2018. (Id. ¶ 85.) The next day, Chestnut filed an affidavit from Jackson, in which he stated that he had terminated WWB on December 2, 2018 by sending him a notice through the U.S. Mail. (Id. ¶ 86.) Following the filing of this affidavit, WWB ceased filing documents and taking action on behalf of Jackson. (Id. ¶ 87.)

In late March or early April 2019, Raffles had a Florida attorney, Leonardo Da Vinci Starke, fly to Kansas City to meet with Jackson. (Id. ¶ 88.) Jackson allegedly hired Starke while he was still represented by Chestnut. (Id. ¶ 92.) Starke never contacted Chestnut or the Special Administrator for the Prince Estate in regard to his representation. (Id. ¶ 93.)

Plaintiff alleges that upon information and belief, Jackson's fair market value in his share of the Prince Estate was valued at $50,000,000 or more. (Id. ¶ 96.) Raffles, working with Primary Wave and Starke, began an effort to get Jackson to sell his portion of the Prince Estate to Primary Wave for a steeply discounted...