GUAM attorney David Lujan agreed to make a payment to his former client, Junior Larry Hillbroom, by Dec. 3, according to attorney Colin Thompson who represented Lujan at a status conference Thursday in federal court.
As of press time Sunday, no information was available regarding the payment amount.
Thompson and attorney Rachel Dimitruk, who represented Hillbroom, reiterated on Thursday that a settlement had been reached between the parties.
Thompson and attorney Mark Hanson, who also represented Hillbroom, likewise told the court that their clients do not have a settlement with Keith Waibel, Hillbroom’s former trustee.
After hearing from the parties, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI ordered them to return to court on Dec. 21, at 8:30 a.m., for the continuation of the status conference.
Last month the parties in the Hillbroom lawsuit, which had been pending since 2010, told the court that they had reached a settlement.
The federal court previously scheduled a jury trial for Dec. 7, 2021.
In 2010, Hillbroom sued his former attorneys Lujan and Barry Israel for legal malpractice, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, and violations of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Israel and Lujan represented Hillbroom when he was a minor in securing $90 million from the Larry Lee Hillblom estate. When Hillbroom became an adult, he sued his former lawyers for malpractice. He also sued his former trustee, Keith Waibel, for conspiracy.
Israel was dismissed from the lawsuit in July 2020 after a settlement agreement was reached between him and Hillbroom.
Hillbroom is one of the four DNA-proven heirs of DHL Corp. founder Larry Lee Hillblom who died in a plane crash in 1995 near Saipan leaving behind him an estate estimated to be about $600 million.
According to Hillbroom’s lawsuit, the defendants committed extrinsic fraud on the Guam guardianship court by denying him a fair opportunity to challenge their 56% retainer.
Waibel, who represents himself in the lawsuit, has a pending cross-claim against Lujan for indemnification.
Judge Manglona earlier denied Lujan’s request to dismiss Waibel’s cross-claims against him.
The judge also denied Lujan’s previous request to dismiss with prejudice his former client’s complaint following Hillbroom’s criminal arrest.
In September, Hillbroom pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Hope, Idaho.
David Lujan
