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Tinian Dynasty asks court to set conference hearing in FICA suit
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Posted on Jan 04 2012
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter
Reporter
The owner of Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino is asking the federal court to set a conference hearing in connection with its lawsuit against the U.S. government to recover what it claims were wrongfully assessed taxes.
Attorney G. Anthony Long, counsel for Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investment Ltd., informed the U.S. District Court for the NMI on Monday that a scheduling conference has not been held in the case. Accordingly, Long said, a scheduling order has not been issued by the district court.
He said that a scheduling conference is proper as the defendant has been served with the summons and complaint. The U.S. government, Long said, has filed an answer to the complaint.
“This makes the case ripe for a scheduling conference,” he added.
Hong Kong Entertainment and the defunct Rifu Apparel Corp. sued the U.S. government to recover allegedly wrongfully assessed Social Security and Medicare taxes (collectively called FICA) that were erroneously paid before.
Eleven other defunct garment factories as well as the former Concorde Garment Manufacturing Corp. and numerous Chinese nationals formerly employed by Concorde and its affiliated companies also filed last year separate but similar lawsuits against the U.S. government.
The plaintiffs alleged that they erroneously withheld the taxes from the wages of their then employees and paid them to the U.S. government.
Last Dec. 29, U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona Manglona ordered the owners of the 11 defunct garment manufacturers to explain why the court should not dismiss their lawsuit for lack of prosecution.
The judge noted that the case has been pending for more than one year without any action being taken by the parties in that period.
