Court OKs IPI request for more time to pay attorney fees

The U.S. District Court for the NMI has granted Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC’s request for another extension to pay the attorney’s fees in the lawsuit filed by seven construction workers over labor complaints and other allegations.

District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona granted IPI’s request for a 30-day extension to pay the attorney’s fees in the amount of $93,834.25. Manglona also ordered IPI to make interim payment to the plaintiffs’ lawyers as soon as funds are available.

IPI was ordered to pay the full amount of the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ fees by Oct. 24. Manglona added in her ruling that this is the only instance the court will grant IPI an extension to pay.

Manglona also notified IPI of the possibility of liquidating some of its assets or direct available cash flow to satisfy court orders rather than paying other expenses.

Michael Dotts, who serves as IPI’s counsel, said that, as of the Sept. 24 deadline, IPI had no funds and no financial capacity to a make a payment However, he assured the court that funding will be available within 30 to 60 days.

Donald Browne, IPI chief executive officer, said in a declaration to support Dotts’ request that IPI has sources of funds outside of the CNMI and receives funding on a sporadic basis. IPI expects to have funds available to cover the liability in 30 to 60 days.

Browne said that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted IPI’s business starting in December 2019 and forced IPI’s business to close entirely on March 17, 2020.

Browne added that IPI is still prohibited to reopen and, even if allowed to reopen, there are no tourists coming and the tourism market is not expected to recover until May 2021 at the earliest.

The request for an extension comes following Manglona’s recent denial of IPI’s request to suspend court proceedings in the lawsuit filed by Tianming Wang, Dong Han, Yongjun Meng, Liangcai Sun, Youli Wang, Qingchun Xu, and Duxin Yan. The seven construction workers are represented by attorneys Aaron Halegua and Bruce Berline and they have asked the court to issue an order awarding them $3.86 million in compensatory damages and $7.72 million in punitive damages.

The plaintiffs worked for IPI’s former contractor and subcontractor: MCC International Saipan Ltd. Co. and Gold Mantis Construction Decoration (CNMI).