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Lawmakers want $400K split among court judgments
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Posted on Dec 09 2008
The Legislature is proposing to set aside nearly $400,000 for the payment of court judgments against the Commonwealth government.
Under the proposed fiscal year 2009 budget, which awaits the governor’s action, individuals who have won lawsuits against the government and have been awarded money by the courts will share proportionately the $387,766 appropriation for court judgments.
The provision was included after a recent federal court ruling, which called for a freeze of government assets until payment of a land compensation claim was made. The lawmakers added a provision to distribute the payments proportionately with the intent to ensure fairness among the claimants.
But the Department of Finance has raised concern about the provision, saying that resulting payments might be too little.
Finance Secretary Eloy S. Inos, in a written comment submitted to lawmakers, noted that the language in the bill refers to all judgments entered and currently payment, and not just limited to the land acquisition cases. The government owes approximately $10 million in court judgments.
“Under this scenario,” Inos said, “a proportionate distribution would result in payment of only 3.88 percent of the individual judgments.”
On Oct. 28, 2008, the U.S. District Court for the NMI ordered the U.S. Marshal to seize Department of Public Lands funds held in bank accounts, goods, and any other property to satisfy over $263,000 in judgment, costs, and interest to Antonio S. Camacho. The court order was designed to enforce a 2006 judgment, which found DPL’s predecessor, the defunct Marianas Public Lands Authority, liable to pay $234,000 to Camacho for the government’s taking of his land in Gualo Rai.
Judge Alex Munson maintained that the court has the power to enforce its judgments against the CNMI government even if the Legislature has not appropriated money to satisfy those judgments.
