4 In-N-Out Burger Execs Sue Over Trust Language
Four In-N-Out Burger executives are seeking more than $1.5 million in damages from a law firm that crafted trusts governing the fortune left behind when the burger chain’s president died in a 1993 plane crash.
The suit filed Tuesday in Superior Court here alleges malpractice and breach of contract by Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger, a Los Angeles-based law firm that prepared trusts for Rich Snyder, 41, who died along with four other men on Dec. 14, 1993, when their corporate jet crashed while on a landing approach to John Wayne Airport.
The dispute focuses on trust language governing the share of Snyder’s estate that was earmarked for Philip West, 37, an In-N-Out executive who also died in the plane crash.
A Buchalter spokesman wasn’t available for comment late on Tuesday, and In-N-Out also was unavailable for comment.
In-N-Out executives Steven Tanner, Robert Meserve, Carl Van Fleet and Kenneth Iriart maintain that the Buchalter firm failed to incorporate Snyder’s intentions into the trust that was executed just five days before the crash.
The dispute centers on trust language governing the share of Snyder’s estate that was designated for West. According to the lawsuit, the trust was written in a way that suggested West could share in two trusts that Snyder created for family members and business associates who survived him.
The suit maintains that Snyder intended the assets of one trust to benefit only those In-N-Out executives who survived him. Instead, they maintain, the trust “only required that [West] be living on the date of [Snyder’s] death.
“All parties . . . died upon impact” in the plane crash, according to the suit. “Thus, Philip West did not survive the death of [West] and, under the preconditions directed by [Snyder], Philip West was not entitled to” trust assets.
The executives maintain that the law firm’s trust work resulted in “significant confusion, ambiguity and expense” that has caused them “significant” but unspecified monetary damages.
