Thursday, September 9, 2021

War of the Fitches Continues Today

AG tries to use DHS report in family court fight, intercepts all letters from stepmom to husband

The War of the Fitches continues today in a Marshall County Courtroom  at 10 AM as Attorney General Lynn Fitch and her sister battle their stepmother over the right to control the life of their father, Bill Fitch. 

Bill Fitch is the father of Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Lisa Fitch Wavro.  Considered to be a man of considerable means, he owns Fitch Farms at Galena Plantation near Holly Springs in Marshall County. Website. He married Aleita Sullivan Fitch in 2012. He is 87 and she is 80. Aleita Fitch was an attorney. 

Bill Fitch signed a power of attorney (POA) and advanced healthcare directive (AHD) on September 8, 2020 in favor of Lynn. (They are attached to the complaint posted below.).  The power of attorney was filed at the courthouse.   Aleita later claimed Lynn tricked her father into signing the documents.  Bill revoked the power of attorney a week later. 

Aleita took Bill to  Baptist Hospital in Oxford on March 26 for treatment of an infection. Once admitted, Bill's daughters took control. Invoking the AHD, Lynn secretly transferred her father to a hospital in Jackson.   Lynn and her lawyer refused to tell Aleita where her husband was or provide any information about his medical condition.  Lynn eventually moved him to a long-term care facility in Louisville where her daughter works, 130 miles away from his Marshall County home.  All transfers were made without informing Aleita of the location of her husband.  

Blocked from seeing her husband, Aleita filed suit in Marshall County Chancery Court.   ll Chancellors recused themselves.  The Mississippi Supreme Court appointed retired Chancellor Jon Barnwell to hear the case on April 12.

The Fitch daughters defended their actions.  They said their step-mother verbally and mentally abused their father.  Lynn claims his doctor told her Aleita "should not have unsupervised access to Bill's room."  She claimed a hospital employee filed a vulnerable adult complaint against Aleita for her "emotional abuse" of her husband.  Enter the investigation.  

The complaint initiated a DHS Adult Protective Services investigation.  Aleita accused the Attorney General of misusing the investigation for her personal court fight as well as using her state bodyguards to intimidate her.  

The Chancellor appointed a Guardian Ad Litem over Mr. Fitch. The Guardian ad litem recommended allowing Mrs. Fitch to visit her husband. Chancellor Barnwell issued a temporary order on June 10 that gave Aleita three thirty-minute supervised visitations and two supervised 15-minute phone calls per week with her husband at the nursing home.  The Chancellor decreed she could not upset her husband nor make any derogatory statements about his children (p.39 below).   The Court also allowed Mrs. Fitch to obtain her husband's medical records and prescribed visitation periods for the daughters so there was no chance of a War of the Fitches in Louisville.

Mrs. Fitch had not seen her husband for 78 days when she was finally able to visit him at the nursing home.  She made every visit even though it was two hours from her home.  She asked the Court to move him closer to their Marshall County home where he could have access to his regular doctors.  Mrs. Fitch also requested additional visitation. 

The Fitch daughters vehemently opposed Aleita's efforts to see her husband and asked the Court to terminate them.  

Enter the APS report (Not to be confused with a TPS report.).  DHS completed its investigation and issued a report.  The Attorney General handles prosecution of such cases unless it is referred to a District Attorney.  The Attorney General intends to use the report as evidence in the case at hand.  She also asked the Court to allow her to provide it to the nursing home physician.  Aleita moved to block the use of the report.  

Undeterred, the Fitch daughters said the Court should terminate her visitation because she allegedly violated the prohibition against upsetting her husband.  As evidence, she introduced 50 pages of letters and cards Aleita sent her husband. Bill Fitch never saw the letters and cards meant for him as they instead wound up in the hands of his daughters. Aleita accused her of cherry-picking a few lines and taking them out of context.  

The daughters also asked the Court to terminate the Guardian Ad Litem, claiming he exceeded the scope of his charge while ignoring issues under his jurisdiction.  (p. 143)  They argued his reports are invalid since he recommended more visitation, revoking the advanced healthcare directive,  and did not interview Lynn nor her sister.

Aleita asked the Chancellor to appoint a guardian and conservator to look over her husband's health and financial affairs.  Her step-daughters opposed the request, arguing they are more than capable of looking after their father.  

 

 Kingfish note: Just curious.  How did the A.G. get her hands on the Adult Protective Services report?

 

Documents posted below

P. 1: Request for Injunction

P. 8: Advanced healthcare directive

P. 12: Power of attorney

P. 20: Motion for TRO

P. 24: Second motion for TRO

P. 27: Fitch's response to TRO motions

P. 36: Lynn Fitch affidavit

P. 39: TRO on Visition

P. 44: Third motion for TRO

P. 50: Lynn Fitch response

P. 62: Motion to limit scope of cross examination

P. 68: Lynn Fitch emergency motion to limit visitation

P. 76: Email

P. 79: Aleita  Fitch letters

P. 131: Aleita Fitch response to motion to modify visitation

P. 136: Response to Aleita Fitch motion to limit cross examination

P. 143: Lynn Fitch motion to terminate Guardian Ad Litem


 

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmm, an elected official wanting control of rights and freedoms. Unheard of. America is being taken over from the inside left wingers and this is what JJ gives us.

Anonymous said...

what a cluster-

Anonymous said...

In the card game of life, a hand full of vipers does not constitute a good hand.

Anonymous said...

The significance of reporting this as news escapes me. Thank goodness for HIPAA. Otherwise, I have the feeling we would be getting updates every time an elected official had a colonoscopy.

Anonymous said...

This is a personal issue the elected official is having with a parent/stepparent. How about respecting her privacy. This has no bearing on her ability to perform duties as AG.

Anonymous said...

Can’t blame them, they are protecting what is rightfully theirs. Nothing against the wife, but I would think he acquired the majority of his assets before they married. If she truly cared for him, she should have included his kids in his healthcare decisions.

Anonymous said...

10:20 - Every minute she and her staff spend on 'this personal issue' is another minute neither she nor her staff are spending on state business. This reality also applies to the state troopers and others she is using to further her own ends. Her 'ability to perform duties as AG' is being impeded only by her personal actions. Frankly, an official leave of absence is warranted. But, then, technically, she would lose the state resources available to her to handle personal business.

The use of state automobiles, state computers, state agency capability to track, monitor and position vehicles and personnel are other things at her disposal - things that are being misused due to her standing in political, public office.

She is using people on the public payroll to prepare and transmit and deliver legal documents - documents of a personal nature.

Do I need to go on and on in order to convince you this is NOT being handled as a 'personal issue'?

Rather than asking us to respect her privacy, how about you asking HER to respect her office.

Kingfish said...

APS reports and state bodyguards are why this is an issue.

Thanks Haley said...

Can’t blame them, they are protecting what is rightfully theirs.

NOTHING Mr. Fitch owns is "rightfully" his daughters'.

Frankly, an official leave of absence is warranted. But, then, technically, she would lose the state resources available to her to handle personal business.

Slimeball shit from our AG. You know damn well she is leveraging her public office as muscle in this private non-official matter.

Anonymous said...

Shout out to Lee Sanderlin, a loyal JJ reader!

Anonymous said...

Be kind folks. As a taxpayer, the woman has my permission to use whatever the she wants to protect her Daddy.
I have friends with Step Mutha’s…a few of them are cannibals.



Hookah said...

Anna Nicole has a few words to share.

Anonymous said...

Let me pose a couple of questions to ponder in this meladrama

Where and what position is the "third" sister taking? The sister that 'sided' with their mother a decade ago against Lynn.

Why would a reasonable attorney (assuming for the purpose of this question that AG Fitch is a reasonable attorney) propose removing a Guardian ad litem? Those are generally appointed to give the triar of facts - the Chancellor - an unbiased and somewhat 'expert' opinion of what the situation is. AG Fitch didn't like the GAL's findings so she wants it removed; seems to speak volumes about what is going on in this fight.

Why, other than the fact that AG Fitch's daughter works there, was a nursing home in Louisville MS selected as the temporary resting place for Bill? KF has reported that it is "two hours" away from his home (and the residence of his wife) while actually someone would have to really hustle to make that trip in two hours. But, let that be for a moment. It is also an hour and a half from AG Fitch's residence in Ridgeland. Seems to me there are plenty of other available places that could be accessable to either - but, we can't forget, there is an inside connection for one side at this location.

Last question - while AG Fitch had the Power of Attorney (during that short week) did she move to cancel the debt owed by her and her campaign from the 2011 loan to purchase her a primary nomination and eventual election? Or has she just ignored it so long that it is no longer a concern?

Anonymous said...

Lots of gold diggers emerging and posting. Quite a few have revealed themselves as cloning Lynn's logic regarding absconding with the family fortune.

Allow me to also point out that Lynn's daughter who works at the nursing home in Louisville is in violation of federal HIPAA statutes if (like she's not) she (or any other employee there) is discussing or in any way revealing confidential information from resident files that are not specifically allowed to be shared by an Advance Health Care Directive form authorizing that specific recipient of that specific information.

Anonymous said...

Solid Office Space reference with the "Not to be confused with a TPS report" comment.

Anonymous said...

10:20, Are you employed by Lynn Fitch or otherwise connected with her? Her people monitor sites such as this one as well as past and present employees social media to see if unflattering information is revealed about Fitch. It would make sense that her loyalists would post comments in her support. In Fitch's case, her public persona is more important than most other office holders because image is all she has

Anonymous said...

Tricking an elderly man in the hospital into signing a POA should be criminal.

Anonymous said...

I am fortunate to have a wonderful stepmother who was 17 years younger than my dad. Until the last day of his life she took care of him never allowing him to go into a nursing home. She also has been a wonderful mother to all of us step children. We are blessed. But I have family & friends that created horrible situations for their step parents with the bottom line being their parents spoiled them!

Anonymous said...

Whoever supports Lynn has a heart just like hers which is evil and fake!

Anonymous said...

10:30 wrote: "Can’t blame them, they are protecting what is rightfully theirs."

The fortune belongs to Bill Fitch. Even vultures wait until after the subject dies to pick the carcass. Not so with some family members.

Lynn and her sister don't own Bill, and they have no present interest in his assets. This is a textbook case for a GAL and a conservator. To me, this case is of public interest because it reveals a great deal about the personality and character of our Attorney General.

Anonymous said...

Lynn Finch should remove herself from office until she gets this ALL shorted out. End of discussion, Counselor.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what the USPS has to say about his mail being intercepted....?

Anonymous said...

@12:54pm - Why? It’s the same if she’s “in office” or “removed from office.” Either way, she ain’t doing shit.

Anonymous said...

All y'all are forgetting about the pre-nup that apparently the spouse disposed of.

Anonymous said...

Step mom’s should stay out of family assets, Period!

The start moving thing towards end of life.

Anonymous said...

3:11, the woman your dad marries IS family because HE chose to marry and her make her family.

Anonymous said...

Alleged interference with the USPS snail mail?

Prosecution futures!

Git 'em while they're hot!

Anonymous said...

Lynn Fitch is being persecuted

Anonymous said...

What a nothing-burger of a comment, 3:11. She didn't ask to be a step mother. She simply agreed to marry a man. The vulture-baggage of the step-children just came along with the back-draft. Lynn Fitch has redefined grifter.

Anonymous said...

In our family, the saying goes, "LAST WIFE GETS THE LOOT". It's proven true, over and over - generation after generation - one senile jackass (and one predatory parasite) after another.

This is why prudent papas establish trust funds, and prudent moms are wise to be inflexible where the rule, "No Trust Fund, No Baby", is concerned.

Anonymous said...

5:46 — Bless her heart.

Anonymous said...

I have no stake in this sad mess so I have no desire to scrutinize all of the pleadings but one thing in Kingfish's post jumped out:

"Lynn claims his doctor told her Aleita "should not have unsupervised access to Bill's room." She claimed a hospital employee filed a vulnerable adult complaint against Aleita for her "emotional abuse" of her husband."

Has "his doctor" (whose identity is presumably known to one and all as well as being indisputably and previously-documented as "his doctor") provided an affidavit as to any of this? How about the employee and the complaint? If I were the GAL or chancellor, I'd want to know what "his doctor" said to Lynn, a full explanation of the alleged report, and if the report was filed, details from the employee who filed it.

Anonymous said...

This is the AG who’s office keeps telling agencies, boards, commissions, municipalities, counties, etc, that her office cannot assist in matters routine and complex that the AGO has always, and is statutorily required, to assist in, because her office “lacks the manpower, time, and legal experience” to assist. She could just say we can’t help we are busy with a kidnapping.

Anonymous said...

Following up on 11:44: I wonder Lynn's daughter was the "employee" who made the vulnerable adult complaint. If so, it looks like Bill may have been sent to Louisville by Lynn for the purpose of setting this us to build a case to take complete control over Bill and his estate. Not saying that's what happened, but it sure looks bad.

Anonymous said...

9:38. Or her office could tell the truth: we fired or ran off just about everyone who had the legal knowledge and experience to advise or assist public officials. That is not an exaggeration.

Anonymous said...

Good grief!
Some of you seemed to miss the wife/step-mother is not some decades younger bimbo and they've been married nearly a decade. She was also an attorney.

If the Fitch children had reason to believe their father and/or his wife was incompetent or too ill to make decisions on their own behalf, that could have been handled without the shenanigans described. They could still have gotten a " child's part" of the estate.

Anonymous said...

11:49 - the problem may be - may be I say - that Lynn lost out on her "child's part" some decade ago when she borrowed substantial $$$s from Bill for her campaign and never bothered to pay it back. Even after being elected and having those "victory fundraisers", those dollars raised didn't make it down the block to Trustmark to pay off the loan but instead went into new furnishings and more red dresses.

At that time was the will rewritten and one child left out? Time will tell but good guess that has a lot to do with these recent activities.

Anonymous said...

A family member of mine worked at the AG office when Jim Hood was AG! They loved that AG office, however my family members decide after Jim, they would support Lynn thinking Lynn was going to be fair like Jim was we he took office. Well the twist to this story is Lynn came in with a different attitude! Lynn didn’t give a damn who supported her under Jim. Lynn and her team came in and humiliated hundreds of good people! Lynn and her posse came in that AG office and acted like wolfs ready to eat fresh meat ! Lynn and her gang are pure evil! Lynn and her posse mistreated some good dedicate people who stood up for all the people of Mississippi!

Anonymous said...

We’ve had worse AG’s. One just has to go to Mississippi’s Jim Crow era to find them.

Anonymous said...

Well, this certainly takes the heat off Bill Allain!

Anonymous said...

11:08, you're going back quite a ways to find an AG who was "worse" than Fitch, going back to find a "Jim Crow" era AG. But you don't name one. In any case, trying to point out a nameless racist AG from "back then" doesn't really have anything to do with today's AG, does it? Apples and oranges? Today's issue is whether the current AG may be using public resources for a private purpose and whether she and her staff have the knowledge and competence to tend to the State's legal business. Nobody has accused Fitch of being a racist, not even the "Jim Crow" kind.

Anonymous said...

@1:13

I don’t think @ 11:08 was comparing the present, though mostly absent Attorney General to a nameless Jim Crow era AG. I think the point is that the State enjoyed a good 60-70 years of relative competence in the office. Alas, all good things come to an end

But kudos to you for working on a Saturday. If only your boss had the same work ethic

Anonymous said...

4:16..Whether intended or not, what's a so called Jim Crow Era AG got to do with Fitch's 2+ years of incompetent bungling and nothing-burgers? It's not so much that she's done nothing in this office, it's that while doing nothing, she throws it in our face of conducting personal business on state time using state resources.

Alas, I'll bet even you can sort through that.

Anonymous said...

Early or late poster @4:26 am.

You seem confused. We all agree Lynn Fitch is incompetent. You just seem to angrily agree

Unknown said...

I believe she lives in Madison county does anybody else see what's going on wit these people abusing there power Michael guest now in Congress two judges on the court of appeals either live in Madison county or set on the bench in Madison county for years there all friends no matter what they want us to believe the system only works for them an they always cover it all up an want us to believe what they do is for the people open your eyes people

Anonymous said...

Every time I've seen Alita with Bill she has seemed to be a caring and loving wife. I kind of thought she had an estate of her own. I also think it quite possible that she was allowing Bill to have too much alcohol. She's 80 and Bill is used to getting what he wants. If I understand correctly Alita simply wants an independent conservator for Bill, and perhaps for him to be moved closer to her. These are reasonable requests.

Unknown said...

If she loses that motion she will appeal that an her friends on the court of appeals will go in here favor 2 of the judges from Madison county an a couple of them were from different d.a offices it will be an easy win then



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