A NEW jury trial date has been set in the lawsuit filed by Junior Larry Hillbroom after the parties failed to resolve pending issues in their proposed settlement agreement.
After hearing from the parties at a status conference on Dec. 28, 2021, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for NMI set the jury trial for March 8, 2022 at 10 a.m. with an alternative date of June 7, 2022 at 10 a.m.
The judge also scheduled another status conference for Feb. 15, 2022 at 8:30 a.m.
In 2010, Hillbroom sued his former attorneys David 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.
Israel was dismissed from the lawsuit in July 2020 after Hillbroom and Israel reached a settlement agreement.
In November 2021, the remaining parties in the lawsuit told the court that they had reached and agreed to a settlement.
Attorney Colin Thompson, who represents Lujan, said his client had already made payments to Hillbroom.
At the hearing on Dec. 28, 2021, Thompson informed the court about Lujan’s efforts in fulfilling an agreement reached between Lujan and Hillbroom, and offered Jan. 17, 2022 as a tentative date for the issues to be resolved.
Lujan, for his part, objected to Waibel being present at the hearing.
But Judge Manglona overruled Lujan’s objection, and stated that Waibel was ordered to appear because the court intended to set a trial date.
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.
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.
Hillbroom is represented by attorneys Mark Hanson and Rachel Dimitruk while Waibel, who also has pending cross-claims against Lujan, represents himself.
Junior Larry Hillbroom
