Question

Raj owned the fee simple in a piece of lan known as Blackacre, which contained a small shopping mall that was included in the title of the property. Although he had no children of his own, he was especially fond of his nephew, Ludwig, and his niece, Elise. Raj wanted to ensure that they enjoyed the benefits of Blackacre, especially after he died. He therefore created the following arrangement: Beginning immediately, and for the rest of Raj's life, Ludwig was entitled to enjoy a life estate in Blackacre. Upon Raj's death, Elise (who is 25 years younger than Ludwig) would become entitled to enjoy a life estate in the property. Although all the parties were initially happy with that arrangement, difficulties arose after the economy went into a recession and the shops that had been operating in the shopping mall on Blackacre began leaving the premises. Within six months, the entire mall was empty. Despite protests from Elise, Ludwig did nothing to protect the value of the proeprty, even though vandals were smashing windows and trespassers had begun to use the parking lot as a garbage dump. What claims if any would Elise have against Ludwig? Would she be succesful?

Answer 1

Answer: Ludwig got the benefit of the assets, therefore, he was also responsible for the liabilities of the property, therefore the was responsible to make all the possible arrangement and reasonable effort to keep the place as it was handed to him, therefore during the difficult situation Ludwig should have maintained the place in the best possible manner and should have protected the place from Vandals with reasonable effort and the help of local police and administration. Therefore, for the future losses that would be coming to Elise because of the negligence act of Ludwig. Therefore, the financial losses towards the restructuring of the place as compensatory and punitive damage claim Elise would have against Ludwig and she would be successful too.