Diane A. Vieira

The appellant sought a declaration of beneficial ownership of a condominium owned by the estate of the deceased, claiming an express or resulting trust.

The application judge dismissed the application, finding insufficient evidence of a trust agreement or gratuitous payments, and noting that oral evidence alone cannot create an interest in land under the Statute of Frauds.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding no palpable and overriding error in the application judge's assessment of the evidence.

Following the dismissal of the plaintiffs' claim on a motion for summary judgment, the defendants sought costs on a substantial indemnity scale against both the estate and the estate trustees personally.

The court found that the plaintiffs pursued unsupported fraud allegations and engaged in unnecessarily aggressive and disproportionate conduct throughout the litigation.

Costs were fixed at $199,602.46 on a substantial indemnity scale, payable by both the estate and the trustees personally.

The court also ordered a conference call to address allegations that one of the trustees fraudulently conveyed her home to avoid the costs order.