(Editor’s Note: A correction has been made to this article. See the end of the article for details.)
This family feud will need a flow chart.
On one side are Little Rock restaurateur Capi Peck and her sisters, Ashley Peck O’Dell of Little Rock and Alison Ashley Peck of White Plains, New York. They have all taken legal shots against their father’s widow, Hannah Peck, concerning her actions as trustee of the Peck Family Trust.
The latest round involves O’Dell, who earlier this month sued Hannah Peck, individually and in her role as trustee. As of Dec. 31, 2013, the trust has net assets of $809,000, according to court records.
O’Dell is suing to make sure she is receiving enough trust reports from her stepmother, who lives in Cincinnati or Kula, Hawaii, according to the complaint O’Dell filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court.
O’Dell included as an exhibit several trust reports to show the judge what she’s received. If those documents aren’t enough, O’Dell wants the judge to order that more reports are released.
Alison Ashley Peck also had tried one legal maneuver to get more information out of the trust. She sued Hannah Peck for the information last year. Alison Ashley Peck also accused Hannah of other allegations including breach of fiduciary duty and deceit. But Circuit Judge Tim Fox ruled Alison Ashley Peck didn’t have standing to bring the case and found in favor of Hannah Peck.
Alison Ashley Peck has appealed that ruling to the Arkansas Supreme Court, and that case is pending.
Capi Peck, who is the executive chef and owner of Trio’s in Little Rock, also sued Hannah back in 2010.
Capi Peck alleged that Hannah Peck got most of the money she subsequently lost in the Ponzi scheme run by Texan Allen Stanford by selling a work of art by 20th century American sculptor Alexander Calder. Capi Peck claimed she had been given the Calder artwork by her father.
The auction house, Sotheby’s in New York, sold the Calder for $3.7 million in 2007, which resulted in the trust receiving $3.3 million. Court records show that Hannah reported losing $2 million on Stanford investments.
Capi Peck also lost her lawsuit against her stepmother. Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen ruled in 2012 that the Calder was the property of the trust.
“Nothing before the Court indicates that [Hannah] acted in a manner exhibiting bad faith or reckless indifference to the purpose of the trust or the beneficiaries’ interest,” Griffen wrote.
We couldn’t reach Capi Peck for comment, nor could we reach Hannah Peck’s attorney, Richard Hatfield of Little Rock.
O’Dell’s attorney, James Penick III of Little Rock, declined to comment.
Correction: Alison Ashley Peck of White Plains, New York, also was involved in a lawsuit against their father’s widow. In addition, Capi Peck had been given the Calder artwork by her father, not her grandmother, as the story had stated.
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