Nathan Carman, the Vermont man at the center of separate probes into the murder of his wealthy grandfather and disappearance of his mother, notched a couple of legal victories last week in an ongoing New Hampshire lawsuit that his aunts have filed against him.
The aunts are seeking to prevent Carman from collecting millions from the estate of his grandfather, developer John Chakalos, who was shot to death in 2013.
In a ruling Thursday, Judge David D. King of the probate court in Concord denied motions from the aunts’ attorneys to compel Carman to provide a copy of his deposition in a related suit in Rhode Island, as well as voluminous materials related to his social media activity.
King noted that the deposition transcript is currently held under seal in US District Court in Rhode Island, where Carman is entangled in a lawsuit filed by the insurer of his boat that sank in 2016, when Carman and his mother were on board.
Carman, 24, was rescued but his mother hasn’t been found. With her presumed death, her share of Chakalos’s $44 million estate would eventually go to Carman, her only child.
King said in Thursday’s ruling that the aunts’ legal team must ask the presiding judge in the Rhode Island suit for the deposition transcript, something they’ve failed to do.
“As such,’’ King wrote, “to the extent they perceive a disadvantage from potentially not having a copy of the deposition(s) transcript in advance of their own deposition of [Carman], that perceived disadvantage is entirely of their own making. Further, they will have two full days to depose [Carman] in this matter to ask him relevant questions in the case.’’
The case centers on the suspicion that Carman has lived under since Chakalos was found shot to death in his Windsor, Conn., home in December 2013. Carman was the last person known to have seen Chakalos alive and previously bought a gun that was the same caliber as the murder weapon, according to court filings.
Police have labeled Carman a person of interest in the slaying, but he hasn’t been charged and adamantly denies killing his grandfather.
In the Rhode Island lawsuit, the insurer for Carman’s sunken boat alleges he made suspicious alterations to the vessel before he left with his mother, with the intention of sinking it. Carman has denied intentionally harming his mother.
Also in Thursday’s ruling, King rejected the aunts’ motion for records of Carman’s social media postings dating back to January 2011, on the grounds that the request was too broad.
King wrote that the aunts’ attorneys have asserted in court papers that they believe Carman is the man behind one Facebook account attributed to a Nathan Carmen of Atlanta, who cited as his “favorite quote’’ the phrase, “My fam is only alive cuz I allow it.’’
However, King wrote, Carman has denied creating that Facebook account, and the aunts’ lawyers haven’t offered “any persuasive support for why they had a good faith basis to believe’’ that Carman uploaded the profile.
In a footnote, King chided the aunts’ counsel for referencing the Atlanta profile in public court filings without any corroboration that it belonged to Carman.
King also said the aunts’ request for Carman’s archived social media postings is not limited to the time periods surrounding his mother’s disappearance and Chakalos’s murder.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.
