Settlement near in General Growth family member's suit over trust

Parties have an “agreement in principle” and are finalizing settlement details in a suit filed by General Growth heiress Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan against her family’s longtime lawyers for allegedly mishandling her trust fund after mall operator General Growth Properties went bankrupt,

the

Chicago Tribune

reported.

A status hearing in the case is scheduled for May 21, the article said.

Scanlan, the daughter of General Growth Properties co-founder Martin Bucksbaum, was not active in company management, the article said. Her suit, filed in August 2009, contended that the attorneys put the interests of the company and other family members over her interests.

Scanlan’s legal malpractice suit named as defendants attorneys Marshall Eisenberg and Earl Melamed; their firm, Neal Gerber & Eisenberg; and trustee General Trust Co., the

Tribune

article said. The suit “alleged the lawyers overexposed trusts held in her name to General growth stock and also improperly used her trusts to repay loans that company insiders used to buy the company’s stock,” the article said.

General Growth, which operated 200 malls, filed for bankruptcy in April 2009. It was the largest real estate bankruptcy in history, the

Tribune

article said. The company emerged from insolvency in late 2010, but the family is no longer involved, the report noted. (Source:

Chicago Tribune,

March 27, 2014.)