Judge Orders Lawyer to Disclose Details of Inheritances From Clients

A Superior Court judge Wednesday dealt a setback to Laguna Hills lawyer James D. Gunderson, ruling that he must disclose details of inheritances he received under the terms of wills and trusts he prepared for elderly clients in Leisure World.

Judge James L. Smith also ordered Gunderson and his daughter and law partner, Linda Gunderson, to pay sanctions of $1,000 each for refusing to answer questions about a $3.5-million bequest the lawyer received in February, 1992, from a 98-year-old Leisure World resident, Merrill A. Miller.

Gunderson has received millions of dollars in cash, stock and real estate from clients’ estates.

Questions about his inheritances were raised in a court action filed by Miller’s relatives, who are seeking to recover the $3.5-million bequest. They claimed that Gunderson exercised undue influence to secure the largest single inheritance from Miller’s $18-million estate.

In sworn depositions for the case, Gunderson said his inheritances from other clients were not relevant to the Miller case and that they were protected by his clients’ rights to privacy.

In a decision released Wednesday, Smith said the Gundersons should answer, with two exceptions, questions about previous inheritances. The judge also ruled that James Gunderson must produce documents requested by attorneys for Miller’s relatives.

The Times disclosed last November that Gunderson had received sizable gifts from clients despite a state Supreme Court ruling that anything more than a modest bequest to one’s attorney raises questions of impropriety. Gunderson has denied any wrongdoing.

Gunderson’s practice has since been under investigation by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the State Bar of California, and the Orange County Bar Assn.