Former Tinian and Aguiguan mayor Ramon M. Dela Cruz is opposing Mayor Joey Patrick San Nicolas\u2019 request for $26,019 in attorneys\u2019 fees and $2,203.25 in costs, describing the fees as \u201cunwarranted and patently unreasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dela Cruz, through counsel Mark B. Hanson, asked the Superior Court to deny San Nicolas\u2019 motion for fees and costs.<\/p>\n
Hanson said if the court is inclined to award some fees, it should only award fees at a reasonable rate for the time spent by only one of San Nicolas\u2019 three attorneys.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an attorney himself, Mr. San Nicolas should have realized that while a team of attorneys pounding the table in court may look strong to his voting constituents, such legal overkill is not reimbursable\u2014particularly where Mr. San Nicolas and his attorneys were backseat drivers in an election contest vigorously defended from its inception by competent attorneys from the CNMI government representing the Commonwealth Election Commission,\u201d Hanson said.<\/p>\n
Attorney Viola Alepuyo, counsel for San Nicolas, said that based on their hourly rate of $210 and work performed, her attorney\u2019s fees amount to $16,390.50, while her co-counsels Matthew T. Gregory\u2019s fee is $8,998.50 and Braddock Huesman\u2019s is $630.<\/p>\n
Alepuyo said the total costs incurred is $2,203.25, which includes Gregory\u2019s $424.40.<\/p>\n
She said the amounts San Nicolas is asking for are reasonable due to the nature of the case and the expedited deadlines. She cited that CNMI law clearly provides for costs and reasonable attorney\u2019s fees in situations like this.<\/p>\n
In Dela Cruz\u2019s opposition, Hanson said San Nicolas\u2019 motion for fees is untimely.<\/p>\n
Hanson said both Superior Court Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja\u2019s order that dismissed Dela Cruz\u2019s election challenge on Dec. 11, 2014, and Naraja\u2019s order the following day confirming the election result did not award San Nicolas attorney\u2019s fees.<\/p>\n
Hanson said because Naraja did not award fees, the statute provides a remedy to San Nicolas for that omission\u2014an appeal by Dec. 15, 2014, to the CNMI Supreme Court as an \u201caggrieved party.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since San Nicolas did not appeal Naraja\u2019s order, any motion now is time barred, Hanson said.<\/p>\n
He also argued that San Nicolas\u2019 request for fee award is unwarranted as San Nicolas was merely a nominal defendant in the election contest process.<\/p>\n
The lawyer said the claims in Dela Cruz\u2019s complaint were all aimed at the conduct of the Commonwealth Election Commission in organizing and conducting the Tinian election.<\/p>\n
Hanson said any award to San Nicolas of a \u201cvictory\u201d over Dela Cruz in his case against the CEC would be \u201crepugnant to the democratic process,\u201d and a violation of sound public policy.<\/p>\n
Hanson said Dela Cruz should be commended for bringing to light substantial flaws in the election law and CEC\u2019s manner of conducting elections.<\/p>\n
On the costs issue, Hanson said with the exception of some nominal costs of Gregory, San Nicolas\u2019 claimed costs consist almost entirely of his and Connie Villagomez\u2019s travel from Tinian to Saipan and back with hotel stays, rental car, and meals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the exception of travel expenses necessary to attend court hearings [on] Saipan, all other costs, including the cost of hotels [on] Saipan and meals that Mr. San Nicolas and his companion would have eaten on Tinian should be denied,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hanson also questioned San Nicolas\u2019 claim for expenses such as invoice for Paradise Hotel from Nov. 6 to 8, 2014, when Dela Cruz had yet to file his lawsuit at that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch demands only serve to highlight the bad faith nature of the\u2026motion for attorneys\u2019 fees and costs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In his lawsuit filed last Nov. 12, Dela Cruz alleged several irregularities during the Nov. 4, 2014 election.<\/p>\n
At a court-ordered recount last Dec. 1, Dela Cruz garnered 696 votes, San Nicolas got 705, while David Cing obtained 47.<\/p>\n
During the first counting of votes, San Nicolas of the Republican Party won by seven votes, 703-696, over independent Dela Cruz.<\/p>\n
Last Dec. 11, Naraja dismissed Dela Cruz\u2019s election challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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