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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

REI-JEU CHANG, Plaintiff, v.

JAMES S. MAXWELL, et al., Defendants.

* * * * * * * * * * OPINION I.

Civil No. PJM 00-740 Civil No. PJM 99-3847

These consolidated actions had their genesis in various divorce and child custody disputes between Richard Chang, father of Plaintiff Rei-Jeu Chang, and Richard Chang's estranged wife, Defendant Yue Tian.1 The disputes have been the subject of several lawsuits in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland, one of which challenged Richard Chang's control over several trusts that he established for the benefit of his three minor children as part of his marital settlement with Yue Tian. See Tian v. Chang, et al., Montgomery Co. Md. Cir. Ct. Case No. 196454. After finding that Richard Chang and his co-trustee, Feng Po Chang, had failed to administer the trusts competently, the Circuit Court (Donahue, J.) ordered their removal as trustees and replaced them with a "temporary successor trustee," Defendant Floyd Willis, III. See Tian v. Chang, et al., Montgomery Co. Md. Cir.

Rei-Jeu Chang is Richard Chang's daughter by a previous marriage and thus not related by blood to Yue Tian. 1

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Ct. Case No. 196454 (Order dated October 6, 1999).2 Willis's role as temporary trustee remains under challenge in the Circuit Court, which has scheduled a hearing for October 2000 with respect to that and any and all other issues pertaining to his administration of the trust estates. The corpus of the trusts under review in state court consists of all stock in Erie Trade, Inc. ("Erie Trade"), which Rei-Jeu Chang describes as a "multi-million dollar business in the middle of Rockville." The trusts, presently controlled by Willis as temporary trustee, are also the focus of Rei-Jeu Chang's claims before this Court. Specifically, Rei-Jeu Chang alleges that she, not three of the trusts, is the owner of 70% of the stock of Erie Trade and asks this Court to enter a declaratory judgment to that effect. Rei-Jeu Chang also alleges that Yue Tian, through "undue influence" and as part of a conspiracy with her three co-defendants, essentially caused Richard Chang to steal her interest in Erie Trade, which he then used to fund the three trusts. Accordingly, Rei-Jeu Chang charges all four Defendants

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