The NMI Settlement Fund wonders why the Office of the Attorney General is opposing the Fund\u2019s motion over a dispute between the CNMI government and the Public School System.<\/p>\n
The Settlement Fund, through counsel Nicole M. Torres-Ripple, pointed out that the Commonwealth is not a party to the Superior Court case filed by PSS against Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and Finance Secretary David Atalig.<\/p>\n
Torres and Atalig have taken a legal position on the merits congruent with that of the Settlement Fund, said Torres-Ripple in the Fund\u2019s reply filed Thursday before the federal court to the Commonwealth\u2019s opposition to the Fund\u2019s motion.<\/p>\n
Torres-Ripple said to the extent that the Commonwealth\u2019s opposition may even be considered, the U.S. District Court for the NMI should reject the Commonwealth\u2019s attack on the court\u2019s jurisdiction to consider the Settlement Fund\u2019s motion, as well as its position that the payments under the settlement agreement in Betty Johnson\u2019s class action are not grounded in the NMI Constitution\u2014a point that even PSS concedes.<\/p>\n
The OAG has asserted that the District Court should not inject itself in the dispute between the CNMI government and PSS over the annual PSS budget issue. Deputy Attorney General Lillian A. Tenorio recently asked the District Court to deny the NMI Settlement Fund\u2019s request for a declaratory ruling that PSS is not entitled to 25% of the Settlement Revolving Fund and the amounts appropriated to the 25% benefit payments under the CNMI statute.<\/p>\n
Tenorio also asked the court to deny the Settlement Fund\u2019s request for a ruling that PSS\u2019 actions violate the settlement agreement in Betty Johnson\u2019s class action.<\/p>\n
Under the settlement agreement in Johnson\u2019s class action against the CNMI government and the NMI Retirement Fund in 2013, the CNMI government agrees to make annual payments that will enable the Settlement Fund to fund at least 75% of class members\u2019 benefits.<\/p>\n
Tenorio said the Settlement Fund\u2019s legal basis for the relief falls outside the District Court\u2019s jurisdiction under the Johnson\u2019s settlement agreement as the Commonwealth\u2019s obligation under that agreement are unaffected by the PSS lawsuit filed in the Superior Court.<\/p>\n
The deputy AG said the issue of PSS\u2019 budget under the NMI Constitution is presently being litigated in the Superior Court, and the Commonwealth\u2019s payment obligations to Settlement Fund are not in dispute.<\/p>\n
In the Settlement Fund\u2019s reply to the OAG\u2019s motion Thursday, Torres-Ripple asked the federal court to disregard the Commonwealth\u2019s opposition in its entirety because the Commonwealth lacks standing to oppose the Settlement Fund motion and that the Settlement Fund\u2019s motion seeks to enforce the Johnson settlement agreement against PSS. The lawyer said the Superior Court action was filed by PSS against Torres and Atalig\u2014not the Commonwealth. She said the Commonwealth is not a party to that lawsuit and has not intervened in that case.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Torres-Ripple said, the governor and Atalig are not adverse to the Settlement Fund and have similarly opposed PSS\u2019 challenges to the appropriation laws. \u201cIn fact, the Commonwealth has opened that there is only a \u2018remote possibility\u2019 that the appropriations laws will be invalidated,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Torres-Ripple asked the District Court to reject the Commonwealth\u2019s argument that the settlement agreement payments are not constitutionally mandated. She said the argument completely ignores the plain language of the settlement agreement and final judgment and the Commonwealth offers no legal authority to support this position.<\/p>\n
PSS and Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada, through counsel Tiberius Mocanu, are suing Torres and Atalig before the Superior Court to guarantee for PSS an annual budget of not less than 25% of the Commonwealth\u2019s general revenue, alleging that Torres and Atalig are in violation of the NMI Constitution.<\/p>\n
PSS and Ada said that Public Law 21-08, which set the Commonwealth government\u2019s budget for fiscal year 2020, appropriated $37,718,904 to PSS, which is approximately 16% of the budget. PSS and Ada asked the court to declare that P.L. 21-08 is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho recently granted the Settlement Fund\u2019s motion to intervene in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
The Settlement Fund also filed a motion requesting that the District Court resolve PSS\u2019 challenges to the constitutionally-mandated payment obligations owed the Settlement Fund under the settlement agreement entered in the Johnson\u2019s class action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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