Jamie Davies is best known as one of the founding mothers of Napa Valley’s modern winemaking industry, as she and her late husband Jack revitalized the historic Schramsberg Vineyards near Calistoga after acquiring it in 1965.

Since July, however, Davies has been busy beating back a lawsuit from her son John Davies, who unleashed a bevy of allegations against the matriarch and his brother, Hugh, who now runs Schramsberg.

In essence, John is suing his mother over what he claims is his right to one third of the Schramsberg wine estate. In a lawsuit filed in Napa County Superior Court, John Davies claims his mother is too overcome with dementia to run the family trust and that his brother colluded with his mother to cheat other members of the family out of their share of the company stock.

Much of John’s lawsuit has already been tossed out by the court — including his claim of his mother’s dementia-addled incompetence — with the latest blow coming Dec. 21, when Napa Superior Court Judge Raymond Guadagni ruled John Davies was not heir to one third of the estate.

However, Guadagni did allow John Davies to go forward with the claim that a March 1996 shareholder agreement Davies signed with his mother was breached.

According to John’s lawsuit, he currently lives in Moscow. Court papers charge in the spring of 2006 he attempted to sell some of his Schramsberg stock.

“Plaintiff informed defendant that he was in the process of getting married and was trying to get some cash to start his new life, buy a tiny apartment and start a new business with his bride,” the lawsuit reads.

But John claims he was thwarted in his attempt to sell those shares by a low-ball bid from the family, which had first right of refusal to the stock. When he found another buyer who would pay a higher price, he claims Jamie Davies canceled the sale because she would match the offer.

John claims she then failed to match the offer, and deducted John’s debts improperly from the sale.

Paul Carey, Jamie Davies’ Napa-based attorney, issued a prepared statement regarding the ensuing legal activity.

“Jamie Davies is deeply saddened by the fact that her son, John Davies, has chosen to file two lawsuits against her seeking, in essence, what he expects as an inheritance,” the statement reads. “Mrs. Davies loves and cares for all of her children, including John, and is hurt by the claims John has made. Mrs. Davies has denied all of the claims raised in John’s actions, and the Napa Superior Court recently entered a judgment of dismissal in favor of Mrs. Davies in one of those actions. In the other action, the court has thrown out all of John’s claims for breach of fiduciary duty, as well as all of his claims challenging his mother’s competence. The court also recently threw out John’s claim to one-third of his mother’s estate. Only one claim remains, and it relates to John’s dissatisfaction with his prior sale of his shares in Schramsberg. Mrs. Davies remains hopeful that this matter can be resolved without further court action.”

John’s Sacramento-based attorneys did not return phone calls by press time.

Print this story   |   Email this story | Browse today's articles in this category: Previous | Next