United States v. Malhas
- Beth Freeman
- 5:19-cv-03709
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In United States v. Malhas, Judge Freeman ordered a referral for a guardian or conservator and kept the case stayed.
Wade Malhas, whose interests must be represented through a guardian ad litem, conservator, or another identified mechanism; his current counsel; the United States; and the pending case, which remains stayed.
What happened
In United States v. Malhas, the government asked the court to appoint someone to protect Wade Malhas’s interests because the parties agreed that he has dementia and cannot communicate with his lawyer. The government also asked for a referral to the Orange County Public Guardian as an alternative.
The court explained that its Federal Pro Bono Program could help find a volunteer lawyer but could not find a guardian. Because Mr. Malhas’s current lawyer had not been relieved, the court ordered that lawyer to refer the matter to the Orange County Public Guardian for a guardian or conservator of Mr. Malhas’s estate.
The parties must file a joint update by May 20, 2022, about the referral’s progress, and the case will remain stayed until a way to represent Mr. Malhas’s interests is identified. Judge Beth Labson Freeman issued the order on March 18, 2022.
The detailed version
- United States v. Malhas · No. 5:19-cv-03709
- Beth Freeman
- Mar. 18, 2022
Background
The government filed a consent motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(c). It asked the court to identify a guardian ad litem—someone appointed to protect and represent the interests of a person who cannot adequately do so in the case—for Defendant Wade Malhas. The parties agreed that Malhas suffers from dementia and cannot communicate with counsel. Alternatively, the government asked the court to refer the matter to the Orange County Public Guardian for a conservatorship or similar arrangement.
Court’s Analysis
Rule 17(c) requires a court to appoint a guardian ad litem or issue another appropriate order to protect a minor or incompetent person who is unrepresented in an action. The court noted that guardians ad litem may be found through various programs or organizations. But the court’s Federal Pro Bono Program had resources to seek volunteer counsel, not guardians ad litem. The court therefore determined that Malhas’s interests needed to be represented through a guardian ad litem or another arrangement found by other means.
Order
Because the court had not yet relieved Malhas’s current counsel, it ordered that counsel to submit a referral regarding a guardian ad litem or conservator of Malhas’s estate to the Orange County Public Guardian. The parties must file a joint status update by May 20, 2022, describing the referral’s progress. The case will remain stayed until a mechanism for representing Malhas’s interests is identified through the referral or other means. The opinion does not expressly state that the motion was granted or denied; it sets out these required steps instead.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.