A sick, elderly woman was swindled out of her home by a lawyer who then fled the island, the lawyer alledged in a lawsuit filed this week.
Kaua‘i lawyer Daniel Hempey said his client, Ellen Hyman, attempted to sell her Kapa‘a home last year to pay for rising medical bills, but when the sale closed, a former Kaua‘i lawyer took the money and skipped town, leaving other clients in the lurch.
Hyman’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday, names the lawyer, Andrew Lichtenberg, Title Guaranty Escrow Services, which transferred the money, and Kenneth Houghton, who bought the home.
Houghton’s lawyer Joe Moss said in a message that his client has no comment.
No phone numbers for Lichtenberg are listed, and his whereabouts are unknown.
According to the lawsuit, Hyman, who lives in Louisiana, agreed to sell the Hauiki Road home to Houghton last year. Title Guaranty opened an escrow account, and Houghton put over $400,000 in the account to pay for the home.
But Hyman never received her $373,000 share, the lawsuit claims. And Lichtenberg, who facilitated the sale for the Louisiana native, has not been seen on Kaua‘i since, local lawyers said.
“The extreme violations of fiduciary responsibility and the fact they were perpetrated against an elderly, sick, and frail woman warranted an aggressive pursuit of justice,” Hempey said, adding that he has turned over pertinent records in regard to the case to officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Honolulu.
Because, he said, he believes the use of wires to transfer money was involved, a federal crime may have been committed. An officer in the Honolulu office of the FBI said it is their policy neither to confirm nor deny the existence of any investigation into anyone or anything.
But County Prosecuting Attorney Craig De Costa said that, while there is no state case pending against Lichtenberg, he certainly remembers the lawyer.
“My recollection is that he had cases pending, and he left Kaua‘i without giving the court or our office any notice,” De Costa said.
Lichtenberg had been court-appointed on a number of cases, and when he left those cases had to be transferred to other defense attorneys, De Costa added.
De Costa also recalled that Lichtenberg finished a probation term in 2004 after a conviction on a contempt charge due to a Family-Court case. However, his record was clear at the time of his leaving Kaua‘i.
Title Guaranty is named in the suit because they transferred the money to Lichtenberg’s trust account without Hyman’s permission, Hempey said.
According to the lawsuit, Title Guaranty by “law, and/or by custom or practice,” was not allowed to make any changes to the payment without written instructions from Houghton and Hyman.
But, the lawsuit claims, Title Guaranty officials wired the $373,000 to Lichtenberg’s trust account. Lichtenberg was supposed to hand over the money, but disappeared.
Employees of Title Guaranty referred comment to their Honolulu legal office. A call to that office was not returned.
The lawsuit names Houghton because he received a house, but Hyman received nothing. Therefore, the contract was breached, the lawsuit alleges.
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252)
