A federal judge has rejected as meritless the latest in a lengthy series of claims by Albert Hill III, a great-grandson of oil billionaire H.L. Hunt, over the distribution of Hunt’s fortune.
In a pointed order issued March 25, U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay dismissed a suit Hill filed in 2020 against the estate of his father, Albert Hill Jr., who died in December 2017; and Margaret Keliher, the executor of the estate.
Lindsay accused Hill III “and his covey of attorneys” of “making a mockery of and abusing the judicial process” with “incessant litigation” over matters the courts have heard and decided time and time again.
The suit Lindsay dismissed challenged a 2010 settlement of litigation between Hill Jr. and his son over trusts Hunt created for his heirs, litigation described in court documents as “very contentious” and “especially toxic.”
Hill Jr. was the son of the beneficiary of one of those trusts, Margaret Hunt Hill, one of six children of H.L. Hunt and his wife Lyda Bunker Hunt. Margaret Hunt Hill died in 2007.
Under the 2010 settlement, to which Hill III agreed, he received “a nine-figure payment and other benefits” for agreeing not to contest his father’s will or otherwise file legal claims involving his father’s property. That will, executed three years before Hill Jr.’s death, passed his interest in the Hunt trusts to his grandchildren – not his son, Hill III.
Despite the agreement, Lindsay wrote, Hill III contested the will after his father died, and has repeatedly filed other legal challenges to the 2010 settlement.
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has weighed in on Hill III’s claims five times, Lindsay wrote, and rejected them each time.
Lindsay called Hill III’s newest suit – the one the judge just dismissed – “the latest chapter in the ‘protracted and complicated’ litigation” that “brings to mind the oft-quoted words of Yogi Berra, ‘It’s like déjà vu all over again.’”
Lindsay added: “The court can only conclude that plaintiffs are proceeding in bad faith. … “It is high time for the court to address this repeated conduct.” He threatened “to impose substantial sanctions against Hill III for being a vexatious litigator and abusing the judicial process.”
Lindsay further wrote, “The court is also seriously considering imposing sanctions on Hill III’s attorneys.”
Court records identify Brian F. Antweil of Rapp & Krock in Houston as Hill III’s lead attorney, the latest in a series of lawyers to represent Hill in a dispute that dates back 15 years. Antweil did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
The estate of Hill Jr. and Keliher, its executor, are represented by G. Michael Gruber and Brian E. Mason of Dorsey & Whitney in Dallas.