Ferraro

The fundamental precept of due process is that before

official action may be taken in derogation of an individual’s rights, liberties, or property, the individual must be permitted a fair opportunity to appear before the decisional authority and show, if he or she can, why the proposed action should not be taken. In the proceedings giving rise to this and two companion appeals, this principle was drowned in a maelstrom of procedural confiision and obfuscation. The unfortunate result has been a tremendous waste of time and resources.

The underlying controversy concerns the decision by decedent Jane E. Ferraro to leave all her property to her two children, respondents Susan Camarlinghi and Michael Kelley. One of her two stepdaughters, Patricia Dean Ferraro Hull, filed an action alleging that this disposition violated an agreement between decedent and her predeceased husband, Pat Ferraro, to divide the property among her two children and his two daughters, Patricia and appellant Sandra Ferraro. In the course of several civil suits and probate proceedings following decedent’s death, all of the claimants except appellant settled their differences without notice to her, and…