RIVERHEAD – State Supreme Court Justice William L. Underwood has ruled that a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease does not necessarily support a finding of incompetence in a case of an elderly widow who allegedly was conned into signing her house away.
Justice Underwood’s ruling in Olsen v. Lane, 28963-98, withheld summary judgment for the 81-year-old woman, who is being sued by the “friend” who claims she deeded her house in Amityville and all its contents to him. The judge allowed the suit to move toward trial. Lindenhurst lawyer Stephen W. Kretz thwarted the attempted deed transfer after deciding that Georgia Lane seemed confused. (The decision is published in today’s Law Journal.)
