The adopted daughter of Erie entrepreneur Samuel P. "Pat" Black III is questioning her father's mental fitness as their contentious court fight reaches yet another stage in yet another legal venue.
The daughter, Sumi James-Black, whom Black adopted in 2019, when he was 77 and she was 44, wants a judge to declare her 83-year-old adoptive father mentally incapacitated.
James-Black, 50, also wants a judge to appoint a third-party legal guardian to manage her father's affairs.
She wants her father declared mentally incapacitated as she counters the lawsuits he filed against her in his attempt to recoup his dwindling fortune.
James-Black, according to newly filed court records, is arguing that her father is incapable of making his own decisions and that he is "incompetent to sue."
One of Black's lawyers responded that the focus on Black's mental state is meritless and meant to impede his lawsuits from advancing.
"This is nothing more than another attempt by Sumi James to delay the inevitable," said attorney Anthony Angelone, referring to Black's daughter in the way she is named in Black's court filings. "The total lack of merit and the true motives will become apparent as we go through the process."
Issue of mental capacity raised in 2 lawsuits
Court records show that a ruling on Black's mental state will affect how and even whether he can proceed in court.
If a judge finds Black is mentally incapacitated, according to the records, James-Black "expects to move to dismiss" the lawsuits — one filed in Erie County Common Pleas Court in April and the other filed in U.S. District Court in Erie in May 2024.
In federal court, Black is claiming James-Black conspired with an Erie law firm and other defendants to defraud him of $200 million from 2017-22 as James-Black helped lead Black's Erie Management Group, the entity that runs Black's businesses.
Black's businesses include what had been his biggest financial asset — the Hero BX biodiesel plant on East Lake Road, valued at $70 million, according to court records. The plant is in receivership and is for sale.
In Common Pleas Court, Black is claiming that James-Black defaulted on a $902,000 loan that he gave her in 2021 to help her buy a house they were supposed to share in Portugal.
Judge sets hearing on mental capacity, guardianship
James-Black is denying the claims in both cases, and is now challenging her father's mental state.
James-Black and her lawyers on Oct. 22 filed a petition to have her father adjudicated an incapacitated person and to have a guardian named for him. They are initially requesting that a judge order Black to undergo a competency exam to help the judge make a final ruling as to whether he has the mental capacity to pursue the lawsuits.
The petition is docketed in Erie County Orphans' Court, part of Common Pleas Court. Erie County President Judge Joseph M. Walsh III scheduled a hearing on the petition for Dec. 3.
James-Black and her lead lawyer, John Mizner, also outlined their plans to challenge Black's mental state in a notice filed on Nov. 3 with U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter, who is presiding over Black's federal lawsuit. She is weighing whether to allow his claims to proceed in federal court, where he filed them under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, the 1971 federal law that targets organized crime.
Daughter claims father has memory problems
James-Black and her lawyers claim they have evidence of Black's mental decline. They said the evidence includes a 2021 neurological exam that led a doctor to diagnose him with "mild cognitive impairment," according to court records.
James-Black is also citing her father's testimony at an arbitration hearing in another matter in August. James-Black is claiming that her father was unable to recall numerous details related to his businesses and his family, including his father, Samuel P. Black Jr.
The elder Black started the Black Insurance Agency, which sells Erie Insurance Group policies. He left behind a personal fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars when he died at 99 in 2001.
At the arbitration hearing, according to one of James-Black's filings, "Mr. Black claimed that he had 'no recollection' of what his father's will said, despite the fact that his father left him about $400 million in Erie Insurance stock."
The testimony at the arbitration hearing, according to the filing, was "striking" in "the manner in which this testimony was given: slow, halting, with lengthy pauses and silence after most questions were presented."
The arbitration hearing was the first time James-Black had seen Black in three years, Mizner, James-Black's lead lawyer, said in an interview.
“Ms. James-Black was shocked and saddened when she heard and observed her father, and believes a competency exam is absolutely necessary,”
He said James-Black's process of observing her father and seeking an competency review has been painful for her.
"She is absolutely heartbroken," Mizner said. "She still loves him, not only as her adoptive father, but as her loving father."
Black says latest claims part of 'smear' campaign
Black is objecting to the claims about his mental abilities. His lawyers are arguing that the "lack of capacity" defense, as James-Black is raising it, "is completely novel" and unfounded, according to filings in the loan-default case.
James-Black "has decided to take this opportunity to again smear Plaintiff's reputation and character by claiming he lacks the capacity to bring this action for monies owed to him," Angelone, one of Black's lawyers, said in a filing. "This is no surprise considering the multiple actions of fraud she committed on the Plaintiff since 2016, as described in significant detail in a civil action currently pending in federal court."
A derailed estate plan leaves father vs. daughter
Angelone said Black will fight the incapacity and guardianship petition in Orphans' Court. Black's other relatives could also have have a say in the petition.
Black married his third wife in 2022, and he has two biological sons who live in Florida. Black chose James-Black to run the businesses rather than his sons, according to court records. The records show Black considered James-Black his heir apparent when he adopted her and put her at the center of his estate plan, according to court records.
Despite his estate plan, Black became estranged from James-Black and sued her — a decision that James-Black claims raises questions about his mental wherewithal.
Black's decision to sue, James-Black claims in a court filing, "is not his own knowing and voluntary choice, but rather the decision of an unknown person or persons who are taking advantage of Mr. Black's lack of capacity to undue his Estate plan and use him as a 'puppet' plaintiff to claw back fund from his daughter."
Original article by: Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com or 814-870-1813