Metropolitan Life Insurance Company v. Concepcion Flores Molina, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted the renewed motion to appoint Dawn Harris as guardian ad litem for Lupe C. Flores, whom the Court had previously found incompetent to pursue the action. The Court found that Harris, Flores’s daughter and attorney-in-fact, was competent and qualified to serve and authorized her to prosecute the action on Flores’s behalf. The Court also directed the parties to meet and confer and submit proposed dates for a status conference within 30 days.

Holdings

1. Dawn Harris satisfied the requirements for appointment as guardian ad litem because Flores had been found incompetent, Harris was willing and qualified to serve, and the record did not show an impermissible conflict of interest.
2. A party represented by a non-attorney guardian ad litem must be represented by counsel in order to litigate the case.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Dawn Harris should be appointed guardian ad litem for incompetent cross-defendant Lupe C. Flores under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(c)(2) and Eastern District of California Local Rule 202(a).
2. Whether Lupe C. Flores, through a non-attorney guardian ad litem, must be represented by counsel to continue litigating the action.

Disposition

other