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Sources: CNMI govt, Woodruff reach deal
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Posted on Jan 29 2014
The CNMI government and Betty Johnson’s local counsel, Stephen Woodruff, reached a settlement agreement yesterday in the latter’s petition for attorney’s fees and costs, according to sources.
Sources said that no amount has been stated yet.
In his petition, Woodruff is asking for $2.9 million. But the Office of the Attorney General on Tuesday expressed the CNMI government’s opposition even to a recommendation to award Woodruff $400,000 for his work in the case.
Johnson’s Hawaii-based counsel, Bronster Hoshibata, made the $400,000 recommendation.
Meanwhile, sources said that Bronster Hoshibata and Johnson’s other counsel, Timothy Lord, did not reach a settlement agreement with the CNMI government as of yesterday.
Bronster Hoshibata and Lord are expected to argue their fees at an evidentiary hearing on Monday in federal court.
Bronster Hoshibata is demanding $17.5 million, while Lord is asking for either $3.6 million or $5.9 million.
According to the minutes of a telephone conference among the parties in the case on Tuesday, U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood gave the lawyers 24 hours to finalize all settlement negotiations.
Tydingco-Gatewood noted that to date, only Johnson’s original counsel, Bruce Jorgensen, has agreed to settle with the CNMI government.
Jorgensen and the CNMI government have agreed that the terms of their settlement should remain confidential for now. The terms, however, will be disclosed once the final agreement is signed.
Another telephonic status conference was held yesterday.
Tydingco-Gatewood also ordered that the evidentiary hearing scheduled for Friday be moved to Monday, Feb. 3, at 9:30am.
Last week, Jorgensen filed a “unified statement” in support of his fee petition, saying he is amenable to a 7-percent reduction of hours and fees, lowering his billable hours to 3,678.7 hours and total fees to $1,195,580.10. Jorgensen’s initial request was at least $18.6 million.
Under the settlement agreement, the CNMI government will shoulder the attorneys’ fees and costs of Johnson’s counsels upon the court’s approval.
