Junior Larry Hillbroom\u2019s lawsuit against his two former lawyers and former trustee over alleged mismanagement of approximately $90 million that he had inherited from his father was originally filed in 2009 in California. After a decade, the jury trial in the case will finally start in federal court on Saipan next week.<\/p>\n
Similar to the probate of the estate of Hillbroom\u2019s father, Larry Lee Hillblom, a co-founder and former owner of DHL Worldwide Express, Hillbroom\u2019s lawsuit is a complex one too.<\/p>\n
In his lawsuit against his former lawyers\u2014David J. Lujan and Barry J. Israel\u2014Hillbroom alleges that the two, together with Hillbroom\u2019s then-trustee, Keith Waibel, conspired in 2001 to wrongfully increase their contingency fee when the estate of Hillblom was undergoing probate.<\/p>\n
Lujan and Israel have also filed counterclaims against Waibel. Waibel in turn, also filed counterclaims against Lujan and Israel.<\/p>\n
In an order last Friday, U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona listed the claims to be tried during the trial that starts Tuesday, Nov. 19.<\/p>\n
In Hillbroom\u2019s case against Lujan, the claims are breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, legal malpractice, and violation of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. <\/p>\n
The claims are the same in Hillbroom case against Israel, with the addition of a negligence claim. Hillbroom makes these same claims against Waibel.<\/p>\n
In Lujan against Waibel, the claims are indemnification, partial equitable indemnification, and contribution.<\/p>\n
Pertaining to Israel\u2019s claim against Waibel, the claims are slander, libel, indemnification, and contribution.<\/p>\n
With regard to Waibel\u2019s claim against Lujan and Israel, the claims are the same: indemnification and contribution.<\/p>\n
Hillbroom intends to call to the stand all the parties in the case and his designated experts, Robert K. Sall and Jeffrey E. Brandlin.<\/p>\n
Israel intends to testify himself and call Lujan, Israel, Waibel, and 14 others, including his expert witnesses\u2014Robert Kehr and John Luna.<\/p>\n
The parties have agreed to, among other facts, that Hillbroom, who is now 35 years old, is the biological son of Hillblom and Kaelani Kinney.<\/p>\n
Hillbroom, a Palauan, is one of the four DNA-proven children of Hillblom. His name is spelled differently from that of Hillblom. The three other children are Jellian Cuartero, a Filipino; Mercedita Feliciano, a Filipino; and Nguyen Be Lory, a Vietnamese.<\/p>\n
Hillblom died in a seaplane crash off Anatahan waters on a flight from Pagan to Saipan on May 21, 1995, leaving behind an estate worth approximately $550 million. The bodies of the pilot and a business partner were found, but Hillblom\u2019s body was never recovered. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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