Court to hear dispute over $1.1 million trust

A judge in Walhalla will hear motions next week in the case of a Beaufort County woman who claims she lost a one million trust that was under the control of a former Oconee County banker. The case is titled Brookshire versus Community First Bank, and motions are to be heard by 10th Circuit Judge Lawton McIntosh Monday morning at the Oconee Courthouse. The lawsuit, filed for Debi Baker Brookshire, alleges she entrusted Benjamin Lee Hiott, identified as a former senior vice president of the bank, as her power of attorney over a revocable trust of $1.1 million dollars. The lawsuit alleges that Hiott wrote cashiers checks amounting to $800 thousand dollars to a third individual “and received nothing of value in return.” The suit alleges Community First “participated and acquiesced in this scheme.” It further claims that by August 2010, the trust showed a zero balance. Attorneys for Hiott and the bank have responded to the claims, and the Hiott side filed a counterclaim against Brookshire, seeking judgment for what it called “unjust enrichment.” All parties have retained Columbia law firms to represent their interests.