The Lawyers and Judges
The bills are here. It is imperative to remember Frances had no independent representation until 2006 (Charles Alailima), despite that she was in many lawyers’ offices throughout.
Charles Ala’ilima, Pago Pago and Washington State
Charles Alailima regards himself as an old family friend, and indeed, John and Dotsy adored him. He did John’s probate, and at the time advised that he could manage the entire Lena estate for us. We declined then, not believing we needed help. He was retained by Frances for her 2004-2006 suit. He appears in the “Kool Aid Correspondence,” quite wrongfully. He has a Facebook page.

Jason Annandale, Apia, Samoa
Annandale was retained by the plaintiffs to conduct the title search for the sale of Fagaiofu to the Haleck Family, a necessary step and expense, since Mike would not produce an original or even a good copy, or better still, a copy of a good deed. Frances, upon seeing the title that Mike had registered in 1984 in Apia, pressed ahead even more steadfastly. Mr. Annandale soon stopped returning inquiries. He has a Facebook page.
Richard Chun, Honolulu, Hawaii, now retired.
Attorney Chun first helped out with Dotsy’s Hawaii guardianship proceedings, and was later retained to assist Frances in coming to terms with the implications of the events surrounding her land transfers. She visited him with Marie in 2012.
Porter Devries, Kona, Hawaii
Porter was retained by Plaintiffs to prepare motions and Memoranda on behalf of the plaintiffs when it appeared that the work was unduly burdensome for the Pago attorneys. Sunia never returned his calls or emails, despite representing that he had no objection to “help,” always a touchy subject. Porter wrote motions for admissibility of evidence of the BFK Board meeting minutes and for life estates; revisions were made at Frances’ request. He advised against a motion for summary judgment on the intention of 1982 Agreement signers, since Lena’s children had not stated their intention (which was why he was retained in the first place). None of Porter’s work was used by Sunia who made no comment about it and filed no motions of his own. Porter writes beautifully and had no deadline problems ever. He has a website. His excellent work is here and the conversation with him about the intention of 1982 and other matters is here.
Murray Drake, Apia, Samoa
Murray Drake is a very senior attorney retained long ago in 1978 and thereafter to investigate the titles in Lena’s estate, then by the family to record the 1982 transfers, and was finally retained by Mike to file his deed for Fagaiofu. His work appears everywhere, especially on the Fagaiofu “Love Deed”. Deposition papers regarding his participation are here.
Patrick Fepuleai, Apia, Samoa
To the extent shown in the depositions and transcripts, Fepuleai was retained by Mike for all his Samoa business at Talimatau and Fagaiofu. See here.
Paul Freese, Los Angeles, California
Now a distinguished and senior lawyer-elder abuse and poverty advocate in Los Angeles (irony) Paul Freese was retained in 1978 by Mike to have Frances advocate to the BFK Board for an audit of James Kneubuhl’s conduct as Trustee of Lena’s estate. Apparently Mike did not want to appear alongside her as co-complainant. A single (curiously undated) correspondence (freese correspondence) is about all we have of his participation in the matter.
Roy J.D. Hall, Pago Pago
Mr. Hall needs no further introduction; he was retained by defendants for the litigation, after years representing family members and the BFK Board, a conflict of interest. He was given employment opportunities when young to support his schooling. The lawyers promised they would, but failed to move for his disqualification. When he closed Lena’s probate, he did not send notice to Mike of the date and time, leaving Mike off the recipients, knowing Mike was no longer an heir or beneficiary. He is accessible on YouTube and on video here.
Richard Higbie, Newport Beach, California, of the firm Cummings and White.
Mike’s long time friend, retained often over the years to “help out” in Samoa. He is especially noteworthy since subject of a disciplinary action. He was suspended, but not disbarred, in California as a young attorney, and remains the judicial standard for the state bar for drawing a line between misconduct and moral turpitude which is always followed by disbarment. The case: In re: Higbie may be viewed here. The subjects were whether arranging (or not) air transports and drug sales are concerning. They have a website. He appears in the BFK notes.
Jackson Solicitors Firm, Apia, Samoa
This firm was retained by family to research Lena’s Western Samoa lands, their registration, and the estate issues surrounding them. Their extensive research appears here.
The Honorable F. Michael Kruse, Pago Pago, High Court
Before becoming judge, then attorney Kruse was retained by Mike for the 1978-1982 matters. Hall immediately had him recused from the present litigation. This was entirely proper, of course, but then Hall ought to have recused himself for a similar conflict of interest stemming from 1982.
Latham and Watkins, Los Angeles, California
Retained by James as Kneubuhl family counsel in the 1978-1982. James also considered them his personal representative defending himself against any allegations of breach of fiduciary duty and for the “audit” begun by Mike. James arranged that their files be sent to Robin after Mike began the Alai suit 2001 or 2002. There were four transfiles, many replicated here. The files were carefully redacted by Latham and Watkins prior to shipment, so the whole story will likely never emerge, regretfully. They did all of the writing and research which won the will contest and the trust contest for James, Ben and John. They have a website.
Sharon Rancourt, Pago Pago
Attorney Rancourt was retained in 2017 to assist Frances in her matters. She has a background in public interest and pro bono law in Boston, Massachusetts.
David Ringold, New Haven, Connecticut
Attorney Ringold is a very expensive, high end Trust and Estate lawyer who used to work for Robin, and who was retained by plaintiffs to evaluate, advise and identify statutory and common law implications of the trust and the nature of interests in the trust.He spent a lot of time with David Vargas. None of his work went before the court. Ringold went to Yale, as did Judge Richmond.

Attorney Ringold’s work is excellent, time honored black letter law of trusts, and ought to be adopted, or at least reviewed, by the Samoan polity. But, for our litigation purposes, that would have required joining the American Samoa government to be a party, or at least as a minimum consulting them. Vargas and Sunia would not do that. So, we were forced to present the implications of their statute at the High Court without benefit of their participation. This I pretty improper, and also gives rise to appellate issues. Anyway, our challenge was to interweave this law with the American Samoa Statute which did not permit non-natives (Lena’s children and grandchildren) to own land. David Ringold’s research and opinions are invaluable, and probably much too hard for the bar down there to consider, and absolutely certainly way too expensive for the plaintiffs to pay for. His work and the conversation within are here.

Fiti Sunia, Pago Pago
Fiti was retained initially to represent Frances and then to replace David Vargas in 2014. He is now a District Court judge, finally approved by the Fono in April 2016, and, although he was informed of his pending appointment much earlier in mid-2015, he did not disclose this to all his clients until much later, even after the trial in October 2015, and even then, not the nature of the pending job itself. He refers to himself as transitional and has not yet returned client files.
David Vargas, Pago Pago
Now retired from Rose, Joneson and Vargas. David Vargas was initially retained by Ben and Margaret in 2004 or 2005 to oppose Frances’ planned sales of land to the Jennings and others at Olo. He led the trial at their request to prevent Wally from buying the “Coke House” at Olo. His role expanded to address other trust concerns, including the Memorandum of Understanding, and revisions but the representation became burdensome to him, and he asked to withdraw on several occasions. We accepted in 2014; Fiti Sunia replaced him. The Vargas family has a Facebook page.