CHC seeks to collect on unpaid hospital bills

The government is running after unpaid hospital bills of various garment firms in 20 separate lawsuits it filed at the Superior Court.

At the same time, the Department of Public Health and Environmental Services asked the court to issue temporary injunctions that would prohibit the 20 employers from removing any assets out of the CNMI.

The department filed the civil actions Wednesday, billing the 20 employers at least $243,193.91 for hospital expenses incurred by their nonresident workers at the Commonwealth Health Center.

Assistant attorney general David Lochabay said the employers are primarily liable for the medical expenses of their nonresident workers pursuant to the Nonresident Workers Act.

“All private sector nonresident worker contracts must contain provisions effectuating [the statutory mandate],” Lochabay said in the complaints.

Lochabay said the department has become the third-party beneficiary of the nonresident workers’ employment contracts. He asked the court to compel the 20 employers to pay the CHC’s unpaid bills as part of their contractual obligations.

In failing to pay CHC, the employers allegedly breached the contracts and unjustly enriched themselves through reduced business expenses.

Lochabay also said the court should issue a temporary injunction preventing the employers to transfer assets out of the CNMI to ensure that payment of any possible judgment favorable to the government.

This follows the closure of at least three garment factories on Saipan.

Earlier, the CNMI government sued Sako Corp. over alleged unpaid taxes totaling some $1.3 million, but the garment company managed to dispose of its assets out of the islands.

“The public interest will be served by the granting of temporary injunction[s] as [they] will assure that there are sufficient assets available to pay any judgment the court may render for the [department],” Lochabay said.

“It is in the public interest that the community as a whole not have to shoulder the burden of paying for health services for the defendant employees,” he added.

The employers, together with the allegedly unpaid bills, include United International Corp., $22,502.51; American Pacific Textile, Inc., $4,084.80; Concorde Garment Manufacturing Corp., $5,336.05; Handsome Textile (SPN) Corp., $7,858.56; Hansae (Saipan), Inc., $33,405.33; Hyunjin Saipan, Inc., $9,655.49; Jin Apparel, Inc., $5,184.36; Joo Ang Apparel, Inc., $1,849.69; Hsia Ling H. Lin, $8,790.60; and Mariana Fashions, Inc., $29,046.32.

The rest include Marianas Garment Manufacturing, Inc., $26,617.55; Michigan, Inc., $1,849.45; Mirage (Saipan) Co. Ltd., $26,440.65; N.E.T. Corp., $27,739.76; Onwell Manufacturing (Saipan) Ltd., $270; Pang Jin Sang Sa Corp., $2,233.32; Sam Marianas, Inc., $2,975.22; Top Fashion Corp., $6,538.40; US-CNMI Development Corp., $13,768.58; and Winners Corp., $7,407.27.

Lochabay also asked the court for an award of attorney’s fees and others costs incidental to initiating the court actions.