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HONOLULU — A 100-year-old woman who sued her prosecutor granddaughter in a financial dispute and lost is getting a new trial.
Florence Puana and her son Gerard Puana sued ex-prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, saying she stole money from them in a reverse mortgage scheme. A jury in 2015 sided with Kealoha and awarded her $658,000 in damages.
Eric Seitz, a lawyer for the Puanas, says a judge on Friday ruled that there was fraud during the trial and that the verdict should be set aside.
In a separate criminal case, a jury in June found Kealoha guilty of conspiracy in a plot to frame her uncle Gerard Puana to keep him from revealing the scheme.
A lawyer representing Kealoha didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.