JUNIOR Larry Hillbroom’s case against his former attorney will continue following a ruling from the federal court on Thursday.
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI denied the request of David Lujan to dismiss the lawsuit.
At the hearing, the judge also imposed sanctions on Lujan for filing a motion outside the scheduling order.
She awarded the plaintiff attorney’s fees and cost related to the preparation of the motion to dismiss. “Plaintiff is to file attorney’s fees and cost no later than June 3, 2021 and Mr. Lujan is to file objections no later than June 10, 2021,” the judge added.
She reminded Lujan about the Rule 11 requirements and gave notice of potential sanctions for Rule 11 violations.
The court set a status conference for July 22, at 8:30 a.m., and ordered the parties to meet and confer no later than July 15 to review “the outstanding matter listed in the order granting stipulation.”
Judge Manglona likewise denied Lujan’s motion to dismiss Keith Waibel’s cross-claim against him.
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 JLH 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 as well as his former trustee, Keith Waibel, for conspiracy.
In July 2020, Hillbroom agreed to dismiss Israel from the lawsuit after a settlement agreement was reached.
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 at about $600 million.
Hillbroom has alleged that the defendants committed extrinsic fraud on the Guam guardianship court by denying him a fair opportunity to challenge their 56% retainer.
He is represented by attorneys Rachel Dimitruk and Mark Hanson.
Lujan earlier asked the court to dismiss with prejudice his former client’s lawsuit because of Hillbroom’s criminal arrest in 2020 in Idaho on a methamphetamine charge.
Lujan noted that Hillbroom is also a fugitive in Palau where he was convicted in 2018 of conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine.
In response, Dimitruk told the court that Lujan’s motion to dismiss was not only filed well past the deadline, but “is yet another of his blatant and sanctionable attempts to waste the time and effort of the federal court and to cause plaintiff further expense and embarrassment.”
Dimitruk opposed Lujan’s motion to dismiss and asked the court to dismiss it, adding that Lujan’s motion was in violation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
She said her client “has patently not failed to prosecute this action and is diligently seeking a resolution either by settlement or a trial on the merits, despite his present, personal circumstances.”
Junior Larry Hillbroom