SACRAMENTO — A sordid family legal drama set among the Napa Valley vineyards has ended, at least for now, with a judge handing a major victory to a single heiress while scolding a trusts and estate attorney for questionable professional conduct.
In a 33-page tentative decision filed in Napa County Superior Court on Tuesday, assigned Judge Diane Elan Wick granted Mary Samson sole possession of four properties worth more than $3 million combined. The ruling locked out Samson’s three surviving siblings, who had each sought a share in the estate of their father, Thomas G. Fogarty.
