Hillbroom bid to dismiss claims filed by his ex-counsel under advisement

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona heard yesterday Junior Larry Hillbroom’s motion to dismiss the counterclaims filed against him by his former lawyer, Barry J. Israel.

Manglona then placed the matter under advisement and said that a written decision would be forthcoming.

Hillbroom’s lawyer, Graham Lippsmith, who spoke on the phone, argued his client’s motion to dismiss Israel’s counterclaims.

Vietnam-based Israel and Guam lawyer David J. Lujan used to serve as counsels for Hillbroom in the late business tycoon Larry Lee Hillblom’s probate matter in Superior Court. Hillbroom is the DNA-proven son of Hillblom.

Israel’s lawyer, Theodore Frank, who also appeared via telephone, opposed Hillbroom’s motion.

Attorney Bruce Berline appeared in court for Hillbroom’s local counsel, Mark Hanson.

In Israel’s counterclaims, the lawyer alleged that Hillbroom colluded with the latter’s former trustee to extort $3 million from him and Lujan.

Israel filed in federal court a cross-claim against Hillbroom and Keith Waibel, the former trustee of Hillbroom.

Among the causes of actions that Israel brought against Waibel are libel and slander for allegedly calling him a criminal. His other causes of actions against Waibel and Hillbroom are indemnification and breach of contract.

Israel asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to hold Hillbroom and Waibel liable to pay him damages, attorney’s fees, court costs and expenses.

In Hillbroom’s motion to dismiss the counterclaims, Lippsmith argued that all of Israel’s counterclaims against Hillbroom are time-barred because Israel was aware of Hillbroom’s alleged acts since 2006, yet he failed to file any claims for more than eight years, long after any applicable statute of limitation expired.

Lippsmith asserted that Israel’s counterclaims against Hillbroom are circular and illogical. “It makes no sense that Junior [Hillbroom] should have to be liable to Israel for any liabilities that Junior establishes against Israel,” he said.

The lawyer said that even if Israel’s counterclaim against Hillbroom are being asserted against him as the current Hillbroom Trust trustee, Hillbroom did not become trustee until 2013, long after the alleged misconduct at issue in Israel’s counterclaims that was perpetrated by Waibel in his tenure as the Hillbroom Trust trustee.

Israel filed the cross-claims and answer to Hillbroom’s lawsuit after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the federal court decision that dismissed the lawsuit filed by Hillbroom against him for lack of personal jurisdiction.

The Ninth Circuit judges ruled that Hillbroom established that Israel deliberately “engaged in significant activities” within the CNMI. The judges remanded the case to federal court.

Hillbroom is suing Israel and Lujan for allegedly conspiring to inflate the attorney’s contingency fee when Hillblom’s fortune was still undergoing probate proceedings.