Large log house in Tuktoyaktuk focus of dispute between Eddie Gruben's heirs

A dispute over the estate of one of the N.W.T.'s most successful family businesses has pitted the grandson of the late Eddie Gruben against Gruben's daughters.

In dispute is a large log house at the base of a pingo(an ice-cored hill)in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T. Gruben's grandson says he inherited the five-bedroom log house from his father. Eddie Gruben's daughters say the house was willed to one of them, Edith (Tootsie)Lugt.

The house is valued at "at least" $450,000 in the statement of claim filed by Justin Gruben, the grandson claiming it. Justin Gruben says his father, James, paid upkeep, utilities and other expenses associated with the house for more than 10 years, including more than $200,000 in improvements.

James Gruben, then the majority shareholder of E. Gruben's Transport,was killed in a collision on the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk ice road in 2001. He was just 43 years old.

In his claim, Justin says his father raised his family in the home for 23 years. He says prior to the 1990s Eddie Gruben lived in a house on the lot. Justin says that, with the "consent and encouragement" of Eddie, Eddie's son James (Justin's father) built a house on another lot in Tuktoyaktuk.

In the affidavit, Justin says that in the early 1990s, Eddie and James entered into a verbal agreement to trade houses. Longtime E. Gruben's Transport CEO Russell Newmark backed that up in a June 17 affidavit.

Newmark said he was with Eddie and James in Eddie's living room when the senior Gruben told his son he wanted to trade houses and lots. Newmark said Eddie Gruben was in his 70s at the time and he was looking for a quieter place to stay.

"There were a lot of people coming and going over to the log house at all hours of the day and night, consuming alcohol and being disruptive," said Newmark in his affidavit. "Many times during the early 1990s, Eddie mentioned to me that he couldn't control the people coming and going to the house and that he wanted to move to a smaller house."

Newmark says he has a close personal relationship with all members of the Gruben family.

Daughters dispute claim

Eddie Gruben's daughters Millie Gruben, Rosemary Lundrigan, Anne Stefure, Patsy Yakeleya, Edith (Tootsie) Lugt and Maureen Gruben say Eddie Gruben willed the house to Edith Lugt, who has a large family and no home.

"Eddie always had the wellbeing of his children at heart," said the daughters. "He originally decided to let James live in the log house ... as James had a young family and was running the family company while Eddie was retired and didn't need a big house.

"When writing his will he decided to leave the log house to Edith Lugt, as she has a large family and no home of her own."

They say the land was once occupied by a log cabin where Eddie's parents lived in the 1920s. In their affidavit they say expenses associated with maintaining and improving the house have been paid by E. Gruben's Transport Ltd., not James Gruben.

The daughters say that since the early 2000s Justin has lived in Edmonton, where he attended flight school and now owns numerous properties. They say that in the last 15 years neither Justin nor any member of his immediate family has stayed in Tuktoyaktuk for more than six weeks each summer, and that when he is there he spends much of his time at a fishing lodge he owns about 35 kilometres east of the hamlet.

The daughters say while Russell Newmark knew Eddie and James personally and professionally he has never been close to any other members of the family and has never been part of any discussions of personal family business.

On Friday, a lawyer for Justin Gruben argued that his client should be granted temporary occupancy of the house to ensure it is maintained while the dispute winds its way through the courts.

N.W.T. Supreme Court Justice Andrew Mahar said it made more sense to allow Edith Lugt and her family to occupy the home until the lawsuit is settled, saying it would be "a tremendous benefit" to them.

"Tootsie, you're going to have to understand that at some point you may have to move out," said Mahar to Lugt, who with the other sisters was listening in by telephone.

But Mahar changed his mind after Justin Gruben's lawyer pointed out the sisters had not made any formal application to temporarily occupy the house. That application is scheduled to be heard July 3.