The Lost Inheritances Saga - The Will: Family Secrets Revealed - S02 EP08 - Reality TV

okay these numbers look pretty good only Norman Auto hyp dies in 1953 he leaves  behind a lumber and Manufacturing Empire more than 50 years later a legal war is launched over  his legacy I knew what the word destitute meant at 15 years of age I can assure you I will  never forget what I saw my mother go through ever it's a David and Goliath story that pits  the family of his impoverished daughter Norma against her wealthy brother George's estate  and a Canadian giant when people find you're goi

ng to take on a bank um they give you looks  of acute sympathy or they say you are nuts making a case of conspiracy against anyone is quite  difficult what this lost has caed this family is [Music] obscene May 8th 2004 at the age of 84 Norma  Jake collapses it's a stroke and it will set off a chain of events that unearth extraordinary  Revelations about her past Barbara Watson is one of Norma's seven children I picked up the  phone and I heard my mother's voice and I instantly knew she was in tr

ouble and I  knew she'd stroked I just knew it Norma needs round-the-clock care her eldest  daughter Barbara's sister Nancy dasent cleans the condo to make room for nursing  support and digs up an astonish ing Family secret I opened an envelope and took out an  original newspaper article that I realized virtually immediately was an obituary and  it was an obituary of our grandfather their grandfather is Norman Otto hypo a blank spot  in the family history his obituary Tells A Tale Nancy and Barb

ara have never heard and it  calls into question every aspect of their lineage in the late 1960s Norma lives in a remote  Ontario Town with her husband David Jakes and their seven children including Nancy and  Barbara it is a life of abject poverty I knew what the word destitute meant at 15 years of age  I can assure you I knew what extreme poverty meant food I I can remember being hungry there were  no amenities at all there were no extras uh we liter ly did struggle from day to day to simply 

survive I can't make it any more clear than that growing up the Jake's children know little  about their mother's side of the family the hypol they have more pressing concerns when  you are focused on survival and behind you there are six other brothers and sisters you are  not searching for your roots only decades later when Nancy discovers her grandfather's obituary  will the hyul startling history come to light this extraordinary description of this man it  was a total shock on February 16th

1953 Norman Oto hyp dies of a heart attack he's risen from  The Shanty where he was born to be founder and president of no hypo limited a massive Lumber and  Manufacturing firm that builds Barns and Arenas all over Canada in Preston Ontario where he lives  Norman Oto hyp is known affectionately as n o n o is elected mayor of Preston and soon wins a seat  in Ontario's provincial Parliament where he serves as Speaker of the House and as representative  at the coronation of King George V 6 this man

who developed this extraordinary business from  Nothing by sheer work and intelligence and grit and determination was my grandfather n o hyle  is a self-made man and a family man he and his wife Olive have two children a son George and  six years later a daughter Norma who shares the same passion for hockey as her father by the  time of his death at age 62 N oyel is a leading industrialist and politician at the Pinnacle of  his career he leaves behind n hypo limited one of the largest companies

of its kind of which he is  President and 88% shareholder all this comes as a great surprise to his grandchildren including  Barbara and Nancy's brother Barry Jake it was amazing uh what he had accomplished in the kind  of person that he was I wish I'd have known him it was a shock on a number of levels to hear  for the first time that your grandfather was a minister in the government and an accomplished  man as well and had done so much in his life I mean it was a shock but the other part of t

hat  equation is that's your heritage that's those are your roots that's where you come from Beyond Pride  there's confusion the siblings can't reconcile the poverty they knew growing up with this account  of a well-to-do grandfather I was very very sad for for what my mother had had to go through uh  her whole life and US children too for the the opportunities that we could have had that we  didn't have after I digested the contents of that obituary I contacted my lawyer in Calgary  and I asked

him if there was any possible way that a will from 1953 could be retrieved in June  of 2004 Norman Oto Hy's will is recovered from The Archives of Ontario its contents leave Nancy  dumbfounded I was reading a document that clearly said that my grandfather's entire estate was to  be held in trust that Olive my grandmother was to get a life interest and that at her death his  entire estate was to be divided equally between my mother and George their Uncle George hpel is  another unknown quantity

George and Norma have been aange since 1962 and he lives more than  2,000 miles away Nancy then asks to have her grandmother olives will recovered grandmother's  will arrived about a week later and and second shock like her husband Olive wants her estate  split 50/50 between her children George and Norma we have two inheritances here they were  to be divided equally between George and mother my mother did not receive either one of those  inheritances this did not occur not with just one estate b

ut two Estates so 25 years after  Grandpa died mother should have inherited half of her mother's estate and she should have been  beneficiary to half of her father state so you can imagine the shock I'm sure Nancy just sat  there with her mouth open for 10 minutes Nancy and her lawyers are left to wonder did George hyp  inherit both Estates there's also the question of what happened to the company n o hypo limited  n O's will says all his assets are to be split equally between George and Norma I

did not see a  sentence that said George hyp inherited anoh hypo limited from his father anoh hypo limited did  not belong to George hypo it was at that moment that she realized that our mother was to inherit  half of her father's company that was a pretty big shock that was you know the Sucker Punch  to to the gut as they say in 1953 hundreds of people attend n o Hy's funeral for the moment the  family stands United in grief but that will change change Glenna cross was Olive's neighbor for 15 

years she used to come and have coffee with me just about every other day and she was um very  very reclusive had no friends not a happy lady one person brings Olive out of her depression her  son George hyp George when he came to see her she it was like somebody brought out a shining star  she she would light up that was the time when I would see her the happiest is she just absolutely  idolized him and she would do anything he said was absolutely wonderful and it was law in 15 years  Glenna n

ever meets Norma Olive doesn't say why I knew there was a problem with her daughter but  she never ever verbalized it to me as to what the problem was growing up Norma and George are  not at odds but they have separate friends and lives so what happens to sour their relationship  from her perspective her relationship she felt was very good there was a six-year age difference  between these two children so their worlds didn't actually cross the source of the family split is  believed to be in 195

0 when Norma marries David Jake the union may have raised a few eyebrows it  wasn't just that my father was Catholic it it was worse he was a French Canadian Catholic in a  German Protestant town like many small towns of the era Preston in the 1950s is divided along  religious lines back in the 1950s when I attended the um Protestant school it was right across the  road from the Catholic school and it was kind of an unwritten law that the Protestants walked on  their side of the street and the C

atholics walked on their side of the street we didn't venture  across Norma's marriage to David Jake is held in a side room of the Catholic church because  Norma is Protestant George and his mother uh did not like my father at all because he was French  and he was Catholic and he was poor and so when my grandfather passed away um that's when uh the  problems for my my father began without n o hyp to keep the peace Norma and David Jake leave Preston  they buy a small home and store in the remote

town of Macy's Bay they sell gas and groceries  to support their growing family the kids pitch in as soon as they're able I actually enjoyed  working in the store um everybody in my family all of the children participated in running the  store we didn't have any hired help and uh I was seven and uh you know I I started helping out  as soon as as soon as we moved well I have two sets of memories it's kind of like one life and  then another life like in Macy's Bay is fine for a while but in August

1966 the family suffers  a tragedy from which it will take decades to recover I had no idea there was anything wrong  until this gentleman ran in the store I needed him to let go of me so that I could go into the  house to retrieve the cash deposits from the store which I knew was the only money that we actually  had and he was screaming at me not because he was upset but so that I could hear him over over my  screams that the building was on fire we had gas tanks where we sold um gasoline and

oil as part of  our general store in the business and I was well aware that those tanks could blow and I remember  seeing my father running frantically trying to find out where his children were when I got to  the edge of the property and stopped and turned around the building exploded the building was gone  in 15 minutes the tragedy leaves the Jake's family destitute but the worst is yet to come George was  very busy making money George was very busy taking money The Blaze consumes the family's

material  possessions and it takes an emotional toll especially on Norma and her husband David  my father was having a complete and total breakdown in the cottage in which we were staying  my mother was in shock my mother was literally numb I remember thinking thank God I didn't lose  my glasses I remember thinking I have one shoe I remember [Music] thinking how are we going to eat  where are we going to live the children helped to rebuild the store it's a race against the coming  winter it was

hard uh we worked like slaves I mean we had nothing I mean stop and think about this uh  family of nine seven children to feed clothed and shelter and not only does your House burn down  your entire source of income is gone as well and I know that my parents didn't have adequate  Insurance to to to deal with the situation and we were destitute and um from that point forward  we just were worked 16 hours a day 7 days a week left homeless the family splits up in borrowed  accommodations there was

no electricity there was kerosene lamp there was a wood stove for heat we  had no bathroom we had no way of having a shower I had a shower at school in gym class we lived on  Georg and Bay winter sets in early on georan Bay my father worked during the day uh to rebuild this  concrete structure and we worked at night I will never forget what I went through and what I saw  my mother go through ever news of the fire reaches Preston in a rare visit Norma's mother Olive hyp  arrives with a carload o

f clothes for the children my understanding is my grandmother came up to  Macy's Bay with clothing for the family family I don't remember that happening I don't I don't have  any recollection of that at all I have one memory of my grandma hypo arriving sometime after the  fire but I I I couldn't tell you how many weeks or maybe even months it was I didn't know who she  was I didn't sense any affection and that's not default my grandma I mean there was a lot going on  Mrs hpel had told me that th

ey'd had a fire um at their place and she did leave for a day Norma's  brother George is conspicuously absent he's busy running his father's company and O hypo limited  back in 1953 Ontario women were not involved in business or Finance period and it was par for the  course for the a man's son to inherit his business from him that was just the standard procedure  and and when my grandfather died my mother along with everybody else that was involved in  my grandfather's businesses and in the comm

unity just understood that George inherited the company  George does not visit his sister he sends Norma money not as a gift but as a loan he made a very  strong point of I'm not going to give my sister a damn scent the interesting thing about George  hyp As We Now understand with such Clarity is that George hyp believed in three things George hpel  money and golf Norma's husband David Jake grows resentful I don't believe my father ever recovered  from losing everything that he'd worked so hard

to achieve and to have after that my father was  like a Broken Man much of their father's anger is directed towards George hyp the children learn  never to mention the hyp name as it triggers David Jake's rage my father was mentally ill uh  he had what they refer to now as anger management problems he was a very angry man and he would go  into these tie raids about George hypo and as a young child growing up we heard that but we didn't  know if it was true or not it was just my dad off on anothe

r tiate and he he would be plenty angry  I mean he really had a be in his Bonnet um so we knew there was great animosity there the hypo name  was not allowed to be discussed in her household my father would just go into a fits of Rage when  anything was discussed concerning the hypo family so it just was never discussed period March 15th  1978 25 years after the death of her husband n o Olive hpel dies of a stroke at age 88 Norma hears  the news from Harry Willoughby her brother's longtime secre

tary Harry invites Norma to the  service but says there's nothing in the will for her this phone call sets off David Jake in another  tiate against George hpel but this time it turns dangerously violent he felt that there should be  something of significance coming to my mother from her mother's estate and um he was enraged when  that wasn't the case he started to beat her and she was fearful for her life by this time Nancy  and Barry are adults when they hear what happened they may sure it's th

e last time their father  beatss their mother Nancy said Barry we have to go up right now and get Mom and uh our other  siblings Mary Martin and David and get them out of the home uh dad is beating mom and she's afraid  he's going to kill her and so that you know within I don't know an hour of that phone call from  my mother uh uh we went up there and we removed them from the family home in July 1978 Nancy and  Norma move across the country to Calgary Alberta the goal is to start new lives from

scratch but  Nancy believes the distance made it easier for George to keep his sister in the dark about her  inheritances unbeknownst to me every decision I made and made after that allowed George hyle to  steal every scent of my mother's inheritance we got on the plane the first week of July to fly to  Alberta and he walked out of a courtroom fully in control of grandmother's estate as sole executive  of Olive's estate George employs a lawyer to probate the will George is supposed to divvy up 

the estate but he doesn't and he literally walked away with it literally and figuratively walked  away with it at that point in my mom's life in 1978 The Inheritance would have made a huge  difference in her life it would have enabled her uh to move to Calgary by buy a home buy a  car get herself set up and then look for work and and and be comfortable uh with her life and  when she moved out to Alberta to Calgary she had next to nothing the reality of my family's life  would have been completel

y different if my mother had received her Legacy in June 2004 Nancy and her  siblings tell their mother Norma about both of her missing inheritances it has been 51 years since  her father's death and 26 years since her mothers she is 84 years old we were incredibly afraid  of what the shock of reading this Wheels would do to her she was struggling so hard to overcome  the effects of this stroke and when we I finished reading my grandfather's will to her she shook her  head and she she said where

's the company where's the company well for weeks and weeks and weeks and  weeks and weeks she didn't understand why George would take her inheritance her body's already  been deeply shocked and then she gets second shock and then third shock because she lost from  her father and she lost from her mother so she's had three whammies in five months they discuss  their options George is still alive in Preston but they don't want to approach him until they've  hired a lawyer familiar with Ontario tr

ust and estate law it would be incredibly dangerous to  go near George hpel to even contact him until we had legal counsil in place we had no idea what  the cumstance was in water County at all in June 2004 Norma decides to launch two separate lawsuits  one for each missing inheritance when we all had conversed at Great length about this Injustice  we all were on the same page all of the siblings that someone needed to be held accountable Nancy  said mom we can do this for you uh I will do we wi

ll do a power of attorney so that the stress uh  for you is minimized substantially and she said yes yes yes Norma's resolve ignites hope but  this could be destroyed with news of another Blaze this one highly suspicious dad had always  uh suspected that the fire was sort of suspicious in his will Norma's father n o hypo names a  company called Waterloo trust as co-executive of his estate in the 60s waterl trust is acquired  by Canada Trust now a division of Canadian banking giant Toronto Domini

on when people find you're  going to take on a bank um they give you looks of acute sympathy or they say you are nuts but  if we didn't take on this institution to write this wrong who's going to do it the difficulty in  uh locating a lawyer was the conflict of interest that so many law firms in Toronto had with TD  Canada Trust they had done work with them in the past they were working with them in the present  they simply could not help or assist us with our lawsuit while they search for legal

counsel the  family keeps quiet about their pending lawsuit then in November 2004 Norma hires David M Smith a  partner with Holland Hull and EST State litigation firm in Toronto working with David Smith was  actually a pleasure he believed in us he believed our story that was huge that was absolutely huge  coming from the background that we came from to have someone say I believe you was 50% of the  battle they are ready to move forward but but George never learns about the fending lawsuit  one

month after hiring David Smith George hpel dies he's 90 years old still a wealthy man his  motives die with him so the family never hears his side of the story in early 2005 Norma files  suit against George's estate for her share of her mother's estate she files a second suit against  Canada Trust for her share of her father's estate we ended up with two to osuit George hpel had  obviously been unjustly enriched by whatever debacle had occurred with grandfather's estate  but George Hy's estate

also owed money to mother because of her missing inheritance from her mother  George leaves a handsome home in Preston his wife Mabel is dead and he has no children so his  three main beneficiaries are acquaintances and colleagues who also happen to be his estate  Executives his lawyer his accountant and his golf course manager we were very concerned I was  very concerned that his assets would be dispersed to the beneficiaries of his estate and then we  in turn would be in a very difficult posit

ion of recovering those assets because we did not  know what he owned at his death we did not know how much wealth there was to avoid a conflict of  interest Scotia trust a neutral party is appointed as executive in their place now the family can  focus on Gathering evidence to fight two legal battles they believe the Estates could be worth  several million dollars but they don't know for sure Nancy reaches out to long lost relatives  in Ontario for help Tracy Hy's father Jack was n o Hy's nephe

w and Driver my father was was very  close to N know to to the point where I I think that George was uh didn't like the fact that he  was closer to n than basically he was to his own dad Gordon hyp is n's nephew his father arur ran  company operations and was a shareholder in N hypo limited there were originally five shareholders  in the business to make it a limited company and uh my dad owned 14 shares uh common shares and  uh at that time back in 19 207 28 those shares were worth $10 each whi

ch at that time was a fair  amount of money Gordon and Tracy have insight into George Hy to offer Norma's family George seemed to  always want friendship but the only way he could get friendship was he would buy people's stuff  or or do stuff to get people to like him George wasn't a friendly person he could walk and almost  touch you you and never even say hi to you and I think George probably took over a little more to  his mother's side through these Newfound allies Nancy learns her mother is

not the only family  member duped by George after Eno's death George took the Helm of the company Gordon's father was  laid off then told his shares in the company were worthless George told him that he was 65 he was  retired and uh there was no pension and uh my dad asked about the shares and he said the shares were  worthless and uh that was the end of it Nancy also learned startling news about the company n o hypo  limited from Tracy hyp and I said you know it was really too bad that the uh

the fire had destroyed  basically the business and and her response was right away was what fire are you talking about  and I said well the fire that had basically engulfed the company and then soon after that it  it was dissolved in the mid-60s a series of three suspicious fires destroy all but one building  belonging to no hypol Limited in fact There Were Three Fires there I remember the big fire yes I  was working in galf at the time and uh on my way home from work I spotted the glow in the s

ky and  uh went down and of course the closer I got to the shop I could tell exactly where it was it was a  big company it employed a lot of people um I mean I knew the people my dad worked in a building just  down the street from him from the hypo company so when it burnt down it was pretty devastating for  a lot of people as many as 5,000 Spectators watch the third and largest blaze in in news reports  George points the finger at a so-called Firebug but around town people have their own suspic

ions  dad had always suspected a a certain individual that George might have used to do it the word I  heard was that that they were pretty sure it was set but nobody could prove anything that was the  unfortunate part of it the first two fires destroy the offices and showroom of n hypo limited the  third destroys the company assets and Records the land was sold and apartment buildings were  put up on that land and uh a strange thing that uh Harry Willoughby developed a pension up until  he reti

red but with all the years my dad was there he never received a scent my dad had always said  George really didn't want to run a company that size he didn't have the uh Financial skills or  or managerial skills to run a company like that and basically just wanted to to get out of the  doing the business his plan would been to collect the insurance after the fire and then sell the  land and take whatever he could for now George's possible motives are mere speculation but Norma's  family is about

to uncover incriminating evidence we knew when we read those letters that we had  a solid case against the estate of George Hyo in June 2005 Norma's lawyer puts 13 requests in  front of an Ontario judge the goal is to obtain all existing records for n o Hy's company and  estate I said to David this lawsuit is deadly serious this loss is staggering what this loss  has cost my mother is beyond description what this loss has cost this family is obscene after  en o Hy's death his estate is managed b

y waterl trust which in the 60s is acquired by Canada Trust  by 2005 Canada Trust is unable to locate estate records they didn't have a single piece of paper  for an estate that they were responsible for for 25 years ludicrous did they really expect that  we would believe that did they really think that somehow that was going to be sufficient to stop  this lawsuit no so we wrote orders for everything and every one of those orders was granted the  family gains access to George's house they're hop

ing to find Financial records Tracy hyp tells  Nancy what they can expect to find inside so their optimistic George's home office will hold  valuable information we walked into that house fully expecting to see George's office intact and  uh upon opening the door to go in uh the the shock was that uh the place had been stripped there uh  antiques were were missing uh all the pictures in the office that related to n o that were hung  on the walls were gone my first initial reaction was to pick th

e phone up and phone the police  like God where are the contents of this home then I walked into the office empty shelves empty  filing cabinets empty drawers we walked into that office and we just stopped de in our tracks and  literally our Jaws fell to the floor and we were heartbroken we knew at that moment this was going  to be an uphill batttle two of George's executiv his lawyer and his accountant later admit they  removed contents from the home but other people had house keys as well so i

t's not entirely  clear exactly who took what or when George's executiv testified under oath that they threw out  a great deal of the contents of that house it's a huge setback but in the next few days the court  appointed Executives for George's estate allow the family to view crucial documents meeting minutes  for ano hypo Limited in the Years following his death share certificates and the company Ledger  the paper trail shows how George assumes control of the company since Norma is not presen

t at any  of the meetings the family's lawyer argues this shows negligence on the part of waterl trust  another key Discovery comes days later they learn key documents from George's house are being  stored in a kitchen or Law Firm including letters written back and forth between George hpel  and his secretary Harry Willoughby it was very obvious from The Correspondents that George hpel  had created this Persona around my father of a lazy nerell in other words mother was responsible  because she

married this man that George despised and talked about in such derogatory terms what  they find is damning and the correspondence clearly paints George Hy and Harry Willoughby  trying to figure out how to ensure mother never saw the will how to ensure that she never knew  what grandmother's estate was actually worth how to ensure that she never really understood what  she was actually entitled to we knew when we read those letters that we had a solid case against  the estate of George hypo the f

amily is confident they can prove George stole his mother's estate  from under the nose of his sister but to pursue Canada Trust in the second lawsuit they need money  they use the new evidence to push for a settlement with George's beneficiaries in April 2008 Toronto  mediator Brian Schnur is brought in the day of the settlement of my Uncle George's estate there was  a mediation lawyer La came in and he told us that we had today to come to a settlement and if we  didn't reach a settlement we wo

uld end up going to court uh many years down the road and it was  most likely that the legal uh fees and expenses would take away all of the money that was left in  the estate after a grueling negotiation the two sides reach an agreement George's estate valued  at more than 1.1 million is to pay Norma $300,000 plus $50,000 from his late wife's estate Norma  will take possession of George's Preston home valued at nearly $400,000 we were we were very  pleased with uh how it ended there was without

a shadow of a doubt evidence to prove that this  man stole mother's inheritance from her mother full stop the bank was a completely different  story having reached a settlement with George Hy's estate the family can focus on a single  lawsuit against Canada Trust they accuse the Trust Company of breaching its fiduciary duty claiming  Norma was never told about her inheritance David fredman is a law professor at Queens University  and a practicing trust and a state lawyer in Ontario a fiduciary

obligation is an obligation  that arises on trust and loyalty it's not just doing your job but um looking out for the best  interest of the person that you're obligated to Canada Trust denies any wrongdoing it calls  Norma's case a flimsy construction of speculation conjecture inference and innuendo I sat there  and went ah my boys in the Gucci suits are not happy what have we done to trigger this response  Canada Trust asks to have the case dismissed but it is not able to produce any records to

show it  paid money to Norma in January 2008 Mr Justice Gerald Taylor ruled rules the case can go to trial  when our case management judge agreed that this case should be heard at trial we were euphoric you  know my mother's a very simple woman and she has said many times uh I didn't get my inheritance I'm  telling you the truth and that validated my mother uh in a very large way with a trial looming new  evidence cast further doubt on georg's character but is it enough to implicate Canada Trus

t I  believe they're trying to run Nancy and her mom I mean out of money because how do you how  do you fight a bank with with endless Pockets I mean it's a victory for Norma but her family's  legal costs are mounting the cash from the settlement helps but it's not enough to save money  the family takes on the bulk of the investigative work themselves we met up with our brother Barry  in Toronto and we would hit the archives we hit the Land Title Offices we hit museums we hit  multiple newspaper

offices we hit libraries I was a regular up at the uh Land Title searches  uh building up in in Kitchener I would spend basically from the time it opened to almost the  time it closed doing property searches through through microfish for them every every Friday and  this went on for for months at a time they're in investigation uncovers valuable evidence they find  promisory notes bank loans and mortgages taken out against the company showing George is driving the  company deeper and deeper int

o debt he mortgaged the key assets of the company he mortgaged The  Sawmill he mortgaged the manufacturing plant he had his hands on the equivalent of millions  of dollars of cash and they recovered the fire Marshall's account of the fires that burned  the company and O hypo limited that was one of the most fascinating pieces of material that  I've ever read in all the material uncovered in this lawsuit according to the fire Marshall's  report the company was on the brink of an audit and within

two to three days at the most of being  told he was going to be audited the office burnt to the ground well the office burnt to the ground  in in December 1964 the inventory sheets are gone and destroyed we can't help you with your audit  the fire marshal remarks on the convenient timing of the fires and he even implicates George  hpel and Harry Willoughby by name stating that a failing business has been liquidated in the  most financially advantageous manner possible when I read that sentence I

actually laughed out loud  he was absolutely right George had systematically intentionally and knowingly destroyed that company  step byep step year by year 3 months after Norma's 89th birthday the trial with Canada Trust begins  in Ontario Superior Court the plaintiffs have an independent business valuation that suggests  Norma's share of her father's estate could be as much as $ 125 million before punitive damages  they seemed very optimistic that everything was was going their way and at one

level this was a  great adventure it really was a great adventure and we threw ourselves into it whole heart the  trial held in December 2009 and January 2010 is 17 days long it's full of drama in his opening  address the lawyer for Canada Trust says there's circumstantial evidence to show Norma actually  got her inheritance in 1966 after the store burnt down it looks like she came into some money in  the 60s and perhaps that was um in a release for certain rights she had in her father's estate

  the bank suggested that my mother more than likely received her inheritance after our sto store  burn down because after all we were obviously able to rebuild Norma's son Barry Jake disputes  that theory when he's questioned by Canada Trust lawyer uh I remember that very clearly he asked me  something to the effect of well how did you know that you were that poor or that badly off and  I said well when you're sitting on a school bus year after year after year after year and you're  wearing the

clothes from the person sitting beside you you know you're poor uh I said when uh you're  uh 11 12 years old and you're involved in heavy heavy physical labor day after day week after week  month after month year after year you know you're poor when you use a 5 gallon pale for a toilet  year after year after year half of the time you know that you're poor and was as simple as that  that's the three things that I said do the family may have earned the court sympathies but the trial  is anybody's

game Canada Trust admits under oath to having lost all of its documents related to the  hypo file except for a single divider they had no records behind that file divider or in front of  that file divider but they had the file divider but the Trust Company argues it wasn't obligated  to keep its files here the bank's position is we don't have records and that's not because we were  neglectful it's because that was the practice at the time and so there's nothing you know  fraudulent or deceitful

or wrong about that much of the family's evidence is admissible but much  isn't they can't enter statements Made In The Fire Marshal's report into evidence unless the fire  marshal can be called as a witness it's hearsay it was a difficult case because the witnesses  that really could provide um the best evidence had all died then Canada Trust produces two Deeds  of sale for n o Hy's properties the first is for his farm sold by the estate in 1955 and the second  is for his summer residence sold

in 1956 Norma's signature is on both deeds and one of them lists  her as a co- beneficiary of her father's estate their point um in leading that evidence is if  she was asked to sign that paper to facilitate a transaction for the purposes of the estate she  both knew that her father had passed away knew that there was a will and knew that she would have  some sort of interest in that estate so supposedly from the bank's point of view that means she knew  about her inheritance and didn't do anyt

hing about it our response is Mother's signature is on 2DS so  my mom doesn't remember signing those documents I don't think it would be very difficult to get her  signature on any kind of a docum doent in 1954 or 1955 be quite honest with you in January 2010  the court is adjourned both parties will have to wait more than a year before the judge reaches a  decision it's a long long time to wait and uh you know a lot hinging on it the waight for the ruling  was in one word brutal finally in Sept

ember 2011 the judge issues his ruling by facts it was quite  surprising because it is the first time I've ever read a ruling where both sides are winning and  losing The Honorable Michael Dale perki sides with Norma and concludes she never received her share  of The Inheritance and Canada Trust is liable now that had been the fight all along and that was  the victory that we had to win she did not get her inheritance and the banks was responsible but the  judge sides with the trust company's ar

gument that Norma ought to have known about her entitlement  years before he cites the Deeds with Norma's signature as evidence in other words mother didn't  receive her inheritance the bank was responsible but the bank wasn't going to be held accountable  the judge dismisses Norma's claim because she didn't go after the inheritance within six years  of her mother Olive's death her claim was what the law would call discoverable if she had taken  reasonable steps to discover whether she had a cla

im she would have discovered that indeed  she does have a claim and that she waited too long and now the limitations period bars her claim  being made and that's quite conventional in civil litigation someone may have had a contract with  you and breached it 20 years ago it's too late for you now to sue on that contract the judge also  States what he believes Norma's share of Norman AO Hy estate should be $500,000 to be honest I  thought that perhaps they made a typing error in the office and it

should be reading $5 million  instead of $500,000 it is a bitter pill to swallow I mean uh in my words that that company should  still be running today it should be a family run company and it was destroyed well it has been all  consuming for my family for the last8 years this has been our life um the fin Financial sacrifices  for my siblings and I have been staggering everything in their lives has been put on hold  for 8 years it has cost me everything that I own it has cost me my [Music] marr

iage uh I sit here  at 60 years of age uh with debt and no security no pension and no assets in terms of the material  sense of the word now it it seems shocking to people and and it seems very unfair that someone  can get out of liability just because you've taken too long to bring your claim and that's a feature  of our civil litigation system you know it's uh it's unfortunate that the law is not oriented  to give people Justice what it's oriented to do is to apply rules fairly you know where

they're  going forward one lesson from this case is that corporate trustees should be keeping records  forever and giving advances in uh information technology that probably isn't going to be too  difficult you know that may be the the the lesson that the rest of us can take at age 91 Norma Jake  has appealed part of the decision pertaining to the limitation period her children insist it's  not about the money but the Legacy they leave their own children this Trust [Music] Company  needs to unde

rstand and realize what drives this family they do not understand what drives me and  why we are still standing and why we are here 7 years later fighting an appeal based on principle  why can't a corporation own their responsibility do they feel good about this that's the question I  feel good at night I'm proud that my daughters and my nieces and nephews have seen us do this that's  the Legacy I leave for my children maybe we won't recover financially but I'm incredibly proud  of my siblings a

nd the Legacy that we've left these great grandchildren would be the Legacy my  grandfather would want left I I can assure [Music] you [Music]