Hillbroom’s ex-lawyer claims he is now Vietnam permanent resident

Attorney Barry J. Israel, one of the former lawyers of Junior Larry Hillbroom, has asked the federal court to dismiss Hillbroom’s lawsuit against him as he is now a permanent resident of Vietnam and is therefore not subject to personal jurisdiction in the CNMI.

Israel, through counsel Ramon K. Quichocho, argued that Hillbroom bears the burden of establishing the “minimum contacts” necessary to exercise jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant such as himself.

Hillbroom is one of the four DNA-proven children of the late business tycoon, Larry Lee Hillblom.

Hillbroom is sueing Israel in district court for allegedly conspiring to inflate the attorneys’ contingency fee when Hillblom’s fortune was still undergoing probate proceedings.

In Israel’s motion to dismiss, Quichocho said where the contacts with the forum are “continuous and systematic,” a court may exercise general jurisdiction over the defendant in any lawsuit, even when the contacts are entirely unrelated to the subject matter of the lawsuit.

“Second, some lesser level of contacts will enable a court to exercise specific jurisdiction over the defendant in a lawsuit arising out of those contacts,” Quichocho said.

The lawyer said Israel is also not subject to general jurisdiction.

Quichocho said general jurisdiction “is an exacting standard, as it should be, because a finding of general jurisdiction permits a defendant to be hauled into court in the forum state to answer for any of its activities anywhere in the world.”

He said when a court determines whether or not there is general jurisdiction, it should consider “whether the defendant makes sales, solicits, or engages in business in the state, serves the state’s markets, designates an agent for service or process, holds a license, or is incorporated there.”

When general jurisdiction is sought over a nonresident such as Israel, the decisions are filled with cases holding that even intermittent contacts will not suffice, according to Quichocho.

Quichocho said the fee agreements alleged in the complaint, and the final accounting of fees and costs Israel received, were disclosed to Hillbroom’s guardians and his trustee, and they were duly approved in orders issued by the Guam Superior Court.

“Now, more than eight years after [Hillbroom] turned eighteen, he commenced this action collaterally attacking those Guam court orders. The complaint should be dismissed because it suffers from fatal defects…”Quichocho said.

Alternatively, Quichocho said, the case should be transferred to the U.S. District Court for Guam.

Hillbroom also named as co-defendant in the lawsuit Keith Waibel, the former trustee of his trust JLH (Junior Larry Hillbroom), for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, and racketeering activity.

Waibel denied the allegations and filed a cross-claim against Israel in federal court. He recently claimed that Israel is hiding in Vietnam.