A trial in a civil lawsuit against a deputy prosecutor will proceed without a conservator for one of the plaintiffs.
The state judge who is being asked to appoint a conservator for 95-year-old Florence Puana put off a decision for at least two months. By then the trial is expected to be over.
Katherine Kealoha, a deputy city prosecutor and wife of Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, filed the petition for the conservatorship last month, claiming that Puana, her grandmother, is impaired and unable to manage her property and business affairs effectively.
Puana, her lawyer and a lawyer for Kealoha appeared in state Probate Court on the petition Thursday.
Attorney Richard Diehl told Circuit Judge Derrick Chan that he was just appointed as the court’s independent investigator and has not had the time to evaluate the claims in the petition.
Diehl said his evaluation will include interviewing Puana, talking to her physician and possibly watching her testify in the trial. He said he will then prepare a report for the court on whether Puana is incapacitated, as defined under state law, and if she does need a conservator, who should that be.
Chan set another hearing for March 19.
Puana is suing her granddaughter over $148,000 from a reverse mortgage Kealoha arranged on Puana’s Maunalani Heights home.
Kealoha’s uncle, Gerard Puana, also is suing his niece over $70,000 he claims he gave her.
The trial for both claims started in state court Tuesday.
In opening statements, Kealoha’s lawyer, Kevin Sumida, suggested to the jury that neither of the Puanas is credible.
He said the uncle has a checkered past that includes a spotty work history, drug abuse and time spent in jail. He told the jurors that the grandmother cannot remember and has no clear understanding of what really happened.
Carolyn DeMello, one of Florence Puana’s eight other children, testified in the civil trial Thursday as a witness for her mother and brother.
"Mom, she knows what’s going on," DeMello said. "She understands everything."
