Lujan objects having Kennedy as settlement judge

Guam lawyer David J. Lujan does not want U.S. District Court for the NMI Magistrate Judge Heather L. Kennedy to serve as a settlement judge in Junior Larry Hillbroom’s lawsuit against him and Vietnam-based lawyer Barry J. Israel.

Lujan informed the District Court last week about his objection to Kennedy sitting as the settlement judge in Hillbroom’s lawsuit.

Lujan, who is representing himself in the case, did not cite any reason for his objection.

The trial in this case will be on Nov. 19, 2019. A settlement conference is usually done to resolve a case through a non-trial disposition.

Last month, Kennedy ordered Lujan to pay $20,921 in costs and fees to his former client, Hillbroom, for his behavior during his deposition in Guam.

Kennedy said if Lujan had not walked out of his deposition, Hillbroom would have been able to complete the deposition and paid the corresponding costs to do so.

Deposition refers to the taking testimony of a witness outside of court. Deposition was held in connection with Hillbroom’s lawsuit against his former counsel, Lujan and Israel.

According to court records, on May 14, 2019, Lujan walked out of the second day of his scheduled three-day deposition in Guam.

That same day, Hillbroom filed a motion to compel Lujan to resume his deposition and pay sanctions.

At the May 24 motion hearing, Kennedy granted the motion to compel and rescheduled the remaining two days of Lujan’s deposition at the U.S. District Court on Saipan.

The court also granted Hillbroom’s motion for attorneys’ fees and costs for the filing of the motion to compel and ordered Hillbroom to submit a more detailed accounting of deposition costs for sanctions.

Hillbroom is suing Lujan and Israel for allegedly conspiring with former trustee Keith Waibel to inflate their contingency fee when the fortune of the late DHL co-founder Larry Hillblom was still undergoing proceedings in the Superior Court.

Lujan and Israel denied the allegations.

Hillbroom is one of the four DNA-proven children of Hillblom. His name is spelled differently from that of Hillblom.

Hillblom died in a seaplane crash off Anatahan waters on a flight from Pagan Island to Saipan on May 21, 1995, leaving behind an estate worth approximately $550 million. The bodies of the pilot and a business partner were found, but Hillblom’s body was never recovered.