Former attorney, son being sued

A local woman is suing a former Ironton attorney and her son for $2 million, claiming she was negligently represented and stolen from.

A civil case was filed on June 7 in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court naming Effie Gillispie, of Ironton, as the plaintiff against defendants Carol Jean Hampton and her son, Christopher Destocki, also of Ironton.

The $2 million sought includes money allegedly stolen from a safe, loans given to Destocki, legal fees paid to Hampton and other damages.

According to the complaint, in late 2012, Hampton represented Gillispie on legal matters regarding the estate of her husband and that Destocki prepared power of attorney paperwork for the man to sign before his death, giving power of attorney to Gillispie.

The complaint goes on the say that Destocki accompanied Gillispie to the bank to withdraw her husband’s funds, after which time she placed the money in a safe in her home as instructed by Destocki.

“From the death of Roger Gillispie until Nov. 7 2014, the plaintiff believed the law firm of Defendant Hampton was taking care of the Estate of Roger Gillispie and her financial matters,” according to the lawsuit. “During this same time period, Defendant Destocki befriended Effie Gillispie, taking her out to eat, taking her shopping and going to social events with her.”

The complaint alleges that Destocki “convinced the plaintiff, who was advanced in age,” to loan him money several times, which totaled to $100,000.

The complaint also alleges Destocki is the only other person who knew the combination to her safe which contained $800,000-$900,000. It is also alleged that on Nov. 6, 2014, Destocki borrowed Gillispie’s car without her knowledge and had her house key duplicated.

On Nov. 7, 2014, the complaint alleges Destocki entered the plaintiff’s home and took the money from the safe and that the plaintiff’s daughter, who lives next door, saw Destocki enter the home while her mother was not home.

At that time, the police were called and Destocki and another man, Nathaniel J. Delong, were arrested for burglary. The two men later pleaded guilty and were sentenced to three years probation.

The lawsuit alleges Gillispie demanded the return of her files from Hampton’s office and has still not received them. The complaint also goes on the say that Gillispie was not aware that Hampton had been accused of “improper actions and malpractice.”

Hampton resigned her law license in May of 2014 after the 2013-filing of a complain that alleged ethics violations.

Counts in that complaint involved former clients of Hampton who hired the woman to handle their child support, probate, Social Security or bankruptcy cases, as well as someone who claimed Hampton tried to take her home as collateral. Another complainant claimed Hampton took her retirement funds without permission.

Gillispie alleged she received a letter from the State of Ohio dated Nov. 19, 2015, informing her that an estate tax return had not been filed as required by law. The complaint alleges that Hampton did not probate Gillispie’s husband’s estate and that Hampton failed to file the estate for Roger Gillispie and failed to advise the plaintiff of the necessity in filing an estate tax return for the money receive from her husband’s accounts.

According to the lawsuit, Hampton charged Gillispie $19,000 for those legal services that were allegedly not performed.

“The defendants intentionally, knowingly and maliciously took advantage of the plaintiff due to their friendship and her advanced age and took the funds of plaintiff without legal or justifiable reason,” according to the complaint.

The lawsuit asks for $1 million in compensatory damages, $1 million in punitive damages and attorney fees, costs and any other relief as ordered by the court.