THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502100473
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
The nephew of a blind 90-year-old widow is suing land salvager Edwin B. Lindsley Jr., claiming that Lindsley got her to sign a 1993 deed when she was mentally incompetent and lying in a hospital bed.
The nephew of Louise M. Holloway said she signed the deed, conveying her one-sixth share of 7 1/2 acres in Great Neck, the day after she was admitted to the hospital for what appeared to be a stroke.
Lindsley paid the woman $2,000 for her one-sixth share, according to the deed. The family said the land is worth $200,000.
The woman's son signed the deed as a witness. However, the nephew, John L. Malbon Jr., said the son did not have the woman's power of attorney to run her affairs - Malbon did.
Malbon filed suit last week in Circuit Court against Lindsley's Dala Corp. He asked the court to void the sale because the widow did not know what she was signing.
Neither Lindsley nor his lawyer, W. Edward Hudgins Jr., would comment on the charge. The widow's son, George Holloway, could not be reached for comment.
This is the second family in a year to accuse Lindsley of taking advantage of an elderly, mentally incompetent relative in a hospital or nursing home to get a signature on a deed. Both claims are pending in Virginia Beach Circuit Court.
Lindsley, 70, is known and feared for his practice of reviving long-forgotten corporations and real estate claims. Last year, Lindsley claimed he owns most of the Oceanfront resort beach. So far, he has not tried to enforce that claim, but his lawyers say he will do so soon.
Another common Lindsley practice is to find land owned by many heirs - often survivors of someone who died without a will - and buy up several shares for a fraction of their worth, then ask the family to buy him out or sell the property so he can get part of the proceeds.
That is what happened in the two latest cases that led to accusations against Lindsley.
In each case, Lindsley filed a legal claim to part of a family's ancestral property. In each case, the family struck back, saying Lindsley got part of his share from a mentally incompetent 90-year-old relative.
The new case involves 7 1/2 undeveloped acres on Mill Dam Road in Great Neck.
In May, Lindsley filed a lawsuit claiming he owned one-third of the property. He claimed he bought his share in two transactions in 1993 from two survivors of the original owner, a woman named Patience R. Malbon.
The land has been in the Malbon family since 1924.
In his lawsuit, Lindsley said that the land cannot be easily divided and that the other Malbons are not willing to buy him out. Therefore, he asked the court to order the property sold, so he would get one-third of the proceeds.
But last week, the nephew retaliated, filing his own lawsuit against Lindsley. The family says Lindsley got a deed from Holloway when she was mentally incompetent.
The woman was sick in bed in Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, hooked to a breathing apparatus and monitoring devices, when she signed the deed to Lindsley in July 1993, Malbon said.
Holloway's son witnessed her signature, and Lindsley's assistant, James E. Moore Jr., notarized the deed.
``She wouldn't know what she was signing,'' said the family's lawyer, T.C. Lea Jr. of Culpeper. ``Everyone in the family knew she was `off.' ''
Holloway is ``incapacitated and unable to handle her own affairs,'' the lawsuit states. In 1992, a year before she signed the deed to Lindsley, she gave her power of attorney - authority to run her affairs - to her nephew because of failing health.
The earlier case involves one vacant acre in Gracetown, near Thoroughgood.
Here, too, the land was owned by one family for decades, since 1911. For more than 50 years, one member of the family, John Smith, lived in a house on the property. The house has since been torn down.
When Smith died in 1993, his survivors considered the property theirs. Actually, it was owned by many heirs of the original owner, who died without a will.
In 1992 and 1993, Lindsley traced the family's history from public records and bought many small shares in the property from heirs who often did not even know they owned it. Lindsley paid about $100 to each heir, eventually acquiring an 81 percent interest. Finally, in January 1994, Lindsley sued the remaining family members, asking the court to sell the land so he could get 81 percent of the proceeds.
Again, the family struck back.
This time, the family claimed that Lindsley got one of his shares from Smith, who was 90 years old and sick in the Bayside Health Care Center with Alzheimer's disease when he signed the deed in September 1992.
In court papers, the family describes how Lindsley's agent allegedly tricked his way into the nursing home and allegedly got a nurse to hold the elderly man's hand and make his mark - a big shaky X - on the deed.
Lindsley paid Smith $100, the lawsuit says. The property is worth $32,000. The family claims Lindsley defrauded the elderly man. They want the deed voided. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Edwin B. Lindsley Jr. paid 90-year-old Louise M. Holloway $2,000 for
her one-sixth share of the Great Neck property, according to a
deed.
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by CNB