Lizama reprimands lawyer for partial compliance with order

Superior Court Associate Judge Juan T. Lizama reprimanded the counsel for an administrator of an estate for partially complying with a court’s order.

Lizama said attorney Joseph A. Arriola, counsel for Rita Kaipat estate administrator Luis Pelisamen, paid out $10,000 in legal fees to lawyer Reynaldo Yana, instead of $20,000 as the court had previously ruled.

“This was improper,” the judge said, adding that Arriola represents the administrator Pelisamen and not the Rita Kaipat estate,

“Counsel does not have the power to reduce a debt owed by the estate,” Lizama noted.

A fee reduction, he said, would have to be accounted for by the administrator and subsequently approved by a court order.

If Pelisamen disagreed with the order regarding the $20,000 debt to Yana, he should have appealed it, said Lizama as he ordered the administrator to give the remaining $10,000 owed to Yana.

On the surveyors’ issue, Lizama said Arriola has represented to the court that he would retrieve funds improperly paid to the surveyors by April 7, 2006.

By April 10, 2006, Arriola was required to submit to the court an accounting of what portion of work is the responsibility of each party.

The accounting, Lizama said, must clearly indicate the responsibility of the Vicenta Kaipat estate, the individual responsibility of the Rita Kaipat estate, and what portion must be covered by the personal funds of Luis Pelisamen.

He asked Arriola to file a petition for payment to the surveyors in accordance with the accounting.

“As the court has already indicated, Luis Pelisamen will be responsible for any of the expenses not directly attributable to the estates,” Lizama said.

Last month, Lizama voided his earlier order that authorized the estate of Rita Kaipat to pay $54,901 to surveyors Alfred K. Pangelinan of Meridian Surveying and Juan I. Castro of Pacific Lands Surveying.

Saying he inadvertently signed the order, Lizama ordered Luis Pelisamen and Arriola to retrieve the money from the surveyors.

Lizama found that the order that he signed on Feb. 7, 2006 was procured improperly.

The judge reminded Arriola that it is his responsibility to make sure that the estate’s funds are disbursed properly pursuant to a court order after notice and a hearing.

In December 2005, Lizama denied the surveyors’ reimbursement claim in the total amount of $50,386. In that order, Lizama said he acknowledged that the surveyors are entitled to reimbursement for any work that was performed and documented. However, he said that one problem with the surveyors’ claim is that their documentation is insufficient.

Vicente Kaipat was the mother of Rita, Isaac, and Benigno Kaipat. The Rita Kaipat estate was awarded by the defunct Marianas Public Lands Authority $4.7 million in land compensation settlement. The amount, however, was equally split for $1.3 million among the estates of Rita, Isaac, and Benigno Kaipat.