Opinion ID: 1974716
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Chuong Case

Text: This is an appeal by appellant Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu from an order of the probate court disqualifying her attorney, Thomas Mauro, from further representing her in a will contest. Mr. Mauro was disqualified by the trial court because of an alleged conflict of interest arising from his concurrent representation of Madame Nhu and her brother, Tran Van Khiem, in the probate proceeding. Appellant now challenges the disqualification; the court-appointed guardian ad litem for Tran Van Khiem, a mental incompetent, and counsel for a third sibling, Le Chi Tran Oggeri, urge affirmance of the disqualification order. Tran Van Khiem was arrested on July 24, 1986, and charged with the murder of his parents, the former Ambassador to the United States from Vietnam, Tran Van Chuong, and his wife, Nam Tran Than Tran Van Chuong. Mr. Mauro was appointed to represent Mr. Khiem in the criminal case. Khiem went to trial on the charges, but the court declared a mistrial when Khiem's conduct and the testimony of a doctor from Saint Elizabeths Hospital led to a finding that Khiem was no longer competent to stand trial. Mr. Khiem was later committed to Saint Elizabeths until he regained his competency. [1] Shortly after the arrest of Mr. Khiem, his sister, Dr. Le Chi Tran Oggeri, filed with the probate court copies of reciprocal wills which expressly disinherited Mr. Khiem and Madame Nhu and made Dr. Oggeri the sole beneficiary. Madame Nhu and Mr. Khiem contested the validity of the wills, the originals of which could not be located. Mr. Mauro represented both Mr. Khiem and Madame Nhu in the probate proceeding; on their behalf he argued that the parents had died intestate. [2] Dr. Oggeri also filed a civil action seeking to have Mr. Khiem declared criminally liable for the deaths of their parents. [3] The trial court, sensitive to the potential conflict of interest arising from Mr. Mauro's dual representation of Mr. Khiem and Madame Nhu, requested written waivers from both clients. In September 1987 Mr. Mauro ceased to represent Mr. Khiem in the criminal prosecution, but he remained as Mr. Khiem's counsel in the civil suit until August 1989, when he withdrew as Mr. Khiem's counsel in that case as well. Thereafter Mr. Mauro continued as Mr. Khiem's counsel only in the probate proceeding. The probate court, at the suggestion of Mr. Mauro, then appointed a guardian ad litem for Mr. Khiem and requested the guardian to submit a report on the potential conflict of interest created by Mr. Mauro's past representation of Mr. Khiem in the civil and criminal cases and his continued representation of both Mr. Khiem and Madame Nhu in the probate proceedings. The guardian concluded that the specific circumstances of the case gave rise to a potential conflict of interest, since Madame Nhu had a pecuniary incentive to establish Mr. Khiem's culpability for his parents' murder. The guardian also suggested that Mr. Mauro might have received confidences in both the criminal and probate matters which would be detrimental to Mr. Khiem's interests and helpful to Madame Nhu in future probate proceedings. Finally, the guardian ad litem asserted that Mr. Khiem, because of his deteriorated mental condition, could not validly waive the conflict of interest. Mr. Mauro disagreed with the conclusions of the guardian ad litem. After a hearing, however, the probate court ordered Mr. Mauro to withdraw as Madame Nhu's counsel by a specified date, absent the filing of an informed consent by the Guardian Ad Litem ... to [Mauro's] continued legal representation of Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu.... The guardian ad litem later reported that he was unable to file such an informed consent, and Madame Nhu noted this appeal. [4]