When that fell apart under cross-examination, he switched to saying he’d been protecting us from financial ruin and had planned to share the wealth eventually.
Finally, in desperation, he tried to argue that we’d abandoned him emotionally and that he’d deserved compensation for the trauma of being an unloved child.Read Wellness Tips
That last argument particularly disgusted me. Richard had been loved and cherished and supported his entire life, right up until the moment he decided love wasn’t as valuable as money.
The judge, a stern woman in her 60s named Margaret Hris, had clearly seen enough family disputes to recognize manipulation when she saw it.
“Mr. Morrison,” she said during the final hearing, “in 40 years on the bench, I have never encountered a more calculated and cruel scheme of fraud against family members. You systematically destroyed your parents’ lives through deception, stole their business, and condemned them to years of unnecessary suffering. The court finds you liable for fraud, elder abuse, theft, and emotional distress.”
