This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

P and his wife, Virginia, owned, as tenants by the entirety, a home. They resided there until 1966, when Virginia moved out as a result of marital problems. P continued to live at the property until July 1968. Virginia resumed residency of the property. For the next twelve years, P lived at various locations in Nevada, Colorado, and Washington, and he made no payments on the mortgage, for taxes, or for the maintenance and upkeep of the home. Before his departure, P executed a power of attorney to D, an attorney with whom he was acquainted. From 1971 to 1974, there was no contact between P and D. In 1975, D sent P a letter enclosing an updated power of attorney because the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission was about to put a sewer adjacent to the subject property, and D believed the new power would be beneficial. This power of attorney, was executed by P and returned to D. Dated October 30, 1975, this power of attorney provides: to convey, grant, bargain and/or sell the property designated in the Montgomery County ...to make, execute, acknowledge and deliver, good and sufficient deeds and conveyances for the same with or without covenants and warranties and generally to do and perform all things necessary pertaining to the future transfer of said property, and generally to do everything whatsoever necessary pertaining to the said property. P had no further communication with D until 1978. Virginia requested D in September 1977 to exercise the power of attorney and to transfer P's interest in the property to her. D attempted to locate P. P wrote to D on at least two occasions at a Carson City, Nevada hotel where Bankerd had been living. Only one letter was returned. D sent a third letter to another Carson City address, but that letter was also returned. D also made several other efforts, albeit unsuccessful, to obtain P's address. Virginia informed D that P had once attempted to give the property away to a neighbor on the condition that the neighbor assume the mortgage payments. D deduced that he believed P 'didn't give a damn' about the property, that P had abandoned his interest in the property, and that, given P's age (approximately sixty-nine years), D believed that Bankerd might even be deceased. D conveyed the interest to Virginia for no consideration. She sold the property to a third party for $62,500. In 1981, P filed suit alleging breach of trust and breach of fiduciary duty. The trial court granted summary judgment and awarded P $13,555.05, holding that P had negligently violated the fiduciary relationship that existed between P and D. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed because the broad language of the power of attorney did not authorize the conveyance without consideration. D appealed.

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