AIKEN — At center stage in an Aiken courtroom on Sept. 5 was the question of whether Adele Pope of Newberry would be paid for serving as co-trustee of the James Brown estate from November 2007 to May 2009.
Of far greater interest to needy students in South Carolina and Georgia, however, was the ongoing battle over the at-death value of the Brown music empire.
Brown left his 850-plus copyrights and rights to his image to an education charity, the “I Feel Good” trust, and $100 million would award far more scholarships than $4.7 million, according to several Pope court filings.
Pope is building her case on showing Brown’s music empire had the higher value.
As co- trustees, Pope and Robert Buchanan of Aiken set the value at $84 million, $100 million minus a debt to New York teachers which was paid off in 2011.
Current trustee Russell Bauknight of Columbia, however, submitted documents to the IRS that set the value at $4.7 million, also minus the debt.
“James Brown had a world-wide famous persona, wrapped up in music. He was commercial everywhere, the image and the music,” Pope said in support of the higher valuation.
The battle kicked off the trial with a deposition from Bauknight’s expert witness, Roger Miller of New York. He testified the value of copyrights would be 15 to 20 times annual royalties, which were $3 million, for a total of $45 to $60 million.
That figure would not include the rights to Brown’s image, which Pope testified was valuable worldwide.
Nor would the figure include other assets such as lost sampling revenues. The estate recently settled a lawsuit against former attorneys Greenberg Traurig and Joel Katz, for example, and while the terms have not been disclosed, the estate estimates for lost revenues ranged up to $50 million.
Also missing from that figure would be unpublished songs and a $7 million claim against previous trustee David Cannon for takings that resulted in criminal charges.
In over nine hours of testimony on Monday and Tuesday, Pope described in detail the hours she clocked during the turbulent months she and Buchanan served as special administrators and then personal representatives/trustees.
She described a “crescendo of confusion” during the time they served as special administrators, how they struggled to save Brown’s estate from being stripped of assets by the original trustees and the treachery that followed their removal.
She testified that despite interference from the Attorney General, when she and Buchanan became co-trustees, they stood ready to defend Brown’s estate plan and prevent the charity being “gutted” in will contests from his companion and children.
“Both documents (will and trust) contained very strong in-terrorem clauses. Challenges must be vigorously defended, were an affront to James Brown’s wishes,” Pope said.
Rather than defend against the will challenges, then-Attorney General Henry McMaster replaced Pope and Buchanan and gave will contestants over half of what Brown left to charity.
Pope and Buchanan appealed the settlement, and only when the record was complete in Wilson v Dallas was the $4.7 million at-death value mentioned for the first time.
An email obtained under FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) shows the low value was withheld from the Supreme Court for months. Only when the record was complete did the Attorney General ask the Supreme Court to supplement the record with the low value, thereby denying Pope and Buchanan the opportunity to refute it.
Former 4th circuit federal judge and one of Bauknight’s attorneys, William Wilkins, recommended the strategy. Two members of the Attorney General’s staff were listed on the email chain, Havird “Sonny” Jones and Mary Frances Jowers.
The Court declined to supplement the record, but the figure was used by the Attorney General to attack Pope and Buchanan. They were accused of overstating the value of Brown’s music assets by nearly $80 million to get a higher fee, which is a federal felony, and the Supreme Court mentioned the allegation in its 2013 Wilson v Dallas ruling.
Attorneys for Bauknight have attacked Pope’s $100 million valuation, but they have not presented the $4.7 appraisal in court, nor have they presented the documents upon which the appraisal was based.
Bauknight does not include on his witness list the Philpott Ball Werner expert who conducted the $4.7 million appraisal.
Under a previous FOIA request, Bauknight refused to release the $4.7 million appraisal or supporting documents. Attorney General Alan Wilson also failed to produce the appraisal, claiming he had never seen it, even though he asked the Supreme Court to supplement the record with the value.
In another lawsuit, Bauknight is suing Pope in part because she did not accept a $100 million dollar offer on the music empire. In this lawsuit he claims there was no offer.
According to a Dec. 6, 2007, email obtained under the FOIA, Deputy Attorney General “Sonny” Jones, wrote that “branding expert” Terry Cox had offered to buy the music for $100 million.
In her claim case, Pope asks for $2.8 million, which includes fulltime+ hours and reimbursement for the staff of 10 she employed to sort through legal and financial papers in 80 boxes. Interest has also been added to the claim; Bauknight rejected Pope’s claim in 2013.
Together, Pope and Buchanan requested about a 5% commission—usual for a PR (personal representative) commission.
Buchanan has settled his claim.
It is only through Pope’s case that the public may learn the value of the 850+ copyrights and rights to Brown’s image that he left to his education charity, the “I Feel Good” trust.
What was the size of James Brown’s gift? What should be full funding for the “I Feel Good” trust? How many students will benefit?
Answers may be on the way, but they will be delayed. Thursday afternoon Judge Doyet Early announced further proceedings in the trial will be rescheduled due to Hurricane Irma.
Meanwhile, needy students in South Carolina and Georgia wait.