Woman Wins $360,000 From Attorney Over Probate Funds

A Capistrano Beach woman has won a $360,000 settlement from an Orange County attorney who allegedly mishandled probate funds from her husband’s estate, the woman’s lawyer said Friday.

Superior Court Judge Henry T. Moore Jr. approved the settlement this week after Ann J. Cantillon agreed to drop several legal actions against David Warren, an Irvine attorney who at one time handled legal matters involving the estate of Cantillon’s husband.

William S. O’Hare, a Newport Beach attorney representing Cantillon, said the dispute surfaced several years ago when the widow asked his firm to take over the handling of her husband’s estate from Warren’s firm.

At the time, Cantillon expressed concern that there had not been a “proper accounting” for $62,838 in taxes paid by the estate to the Internal Revenue Service, he said. A further check revealed that the funds had been returned to the estate by the IRS in December, 1979, but were deposited into a separate client trust account handled by Warren, O’Hare said.

Although the contested funds were repaid in 1984, Cantillon initiated several actions against Warren, including a civil lawsuit alleging fraud and negligence, O’Hare said. This week, Cantillon agreed to drop her claims in return for the $360,000 settlement.

Warren, contacted by telephone, refused to comment on the case and referred all questions to his lawyers. Attorneys Michael D. Pursell of Santa Ana and Susan M. Hilton of Los Angeles, both representing Warren, declined to discuss the matter.

Next week, Warren faces disciplinary proceedings growing out of the Cantillon case and other complaints before the State Bar, according to Dominique Snyder, a State Bar attorney in Los Angeles.