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MPLA spending $400K in lawyer fees annually
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Posted on Jan 02 2005
Lawsuits and legal review of agency policy and decisions are costing the Marianas Public Lands Authority about $400,000 annually, it was learned last week.
MPLA comptroller David Demapan disclosed that MPLA currently has six lawyers on its payroll.
Two of them are regular MPLA personnel: Alan Lane, the legal counsel for the MPLA board of directors, and Ray Dela Cruz, MPLA hearing officer. Each earns an annual salary of about $65,000, plus fringe benefits, Demapan said.
The four others are hired on a contractual basis and paid a total of $365,000. They are Ray Quichocho and Matthew Smith, who get about $80,000 each yearly; Anthony Long, who receives $75,000 in annual retainer fee; and Matt Gregory, who is paid $35,000 to work on a small project, Demapan said.
The House of Representatives earlier expressed concern about MPLA’s legal expenses. The matter was one of the topics that were supposed to be taken up in a House inquiry on the MPLA.
But in an interview, MPLA board chairwoman Ana Demapan-Castro maintained that the lawyers were hired with different scopes of work.
She said MPLA needs all the legal help it could get in view of the various lawsuits currently facing the agency, particularly the board of directors.
She cited the long-running lawsuit filed by the Marianas Public Land Trust against MPLA involving the latter’s alleged improper use of proceeds from its public land leases.
Demapan-Castro added that board decisions relating to land compensation have also resulted in lawsuits by disgruntled claimants.
The MPLA board is also facing litigation over the termination of former commissioner Henry Hofschneider, who is questioning Demapan-Castro’s unilateral decision to fire him.
