Haskett

This matter involves three appeals that arise out of a decision by the Superior Court of San Diego County (the San Diego court or the court) that plaintiff Steven P. Haskett (Haskett), the successor trustee of an irrevocable trust known as the Desert Falls Trust, is not personally liable for a judgment for attorney fees and costs entered against him, in his representative capacity, by the Superior Court of Riverside County (the Riverside court) following dismissal of a contract action (the Riverside action) that he prosecuted in his capacity as trustee.

In one of the three pending appeals in this matter, defendants James M. Binger and Rematch, Inc. (together Binger and Rematch) appeal from a May 26, 1999 order issued by the San Diego court granting Haskett’s petition (the petition) for a determination that he is not personally liable for attorney fees in the sum of about $89,000 that the Riverside court awarded to Binger and Rematch after the underlying contract action filed in that court, which was prosecuted (but not initiated) by Haskett against them in his representative capacity as successor trustee of the subject irrevocable trust, and was dismissed on the ground…