Munson resets hearing on class suit payments

The federal court canceled today’s hearing that was earlier set to determine, among other things, whether payments have been made to the workers involved in the class-action lawsuit against CNMI garment factories.

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Alex Munson took off the calendar the status conference that was scheduled today and reset it to June 6 at 4:30pm.

Munson set the new hearing following a stipulation entered by the parties in the lawsuit, the Saipan Tribune learned.

In a March 29, 2006 order setting for the hearing, Munson expressed intention to know the status of the distribution of the money made to the settlement class members in accordance with the settlement agreement.

The judge stated that it would be appropriate for a representative of the claims administrator (Gilradi and Co. LLC) to apprise the court of the status of the distributions to the SCM.

Munson said that if distributions have yet to be made, the claims administrator representative should inform the court as to the reason for such failure or delay.

He also cited that it is appropriate for a representative of the counsel for the class action plaintiffs to provide an accounting of all funds in the Milberg Trust.

Munson said he specifically would like to determine if all expenditures from the Milberg Trust are in accordance with the court’s prior order(s).

The New York-based law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP lodged the $1 billion class-action lawsuit against the garment industry. A recent Wall Street Journal article disclosed that two top partners of Milberg’s left the firm as it mounts a campaign to stave off a criminal indictment for paying kickbacks to clients.

Munson said he would also like to determine the status of any funds that have been withheld under a provision of the settlement agreement, dealing with the settling retailers.

The judge requested some current report as to the status of the repatriation fund from the Garment Oversight Board.

The oversight board, with former Judge Timothy H. Bellas as chairman, has been in existence since 2003. Its term is set to expire in mid-2007.

In January 1999, Milberg and other law firms, on behalf of some garment workers, sued several garment factories on Saipan, alleging that workers were made to work in sweatshop conditions. Garment owners branded the lawsuit as “embellished and unreal.”

After a few years of costly litigations, the lawsuit was settled. The combined settlement fund reaches close to $20 million. Almost $5.8 million of the amount would go to cash payments to the workers. Some $500,000 would be paid to the claims administrator of the distribution fund.

Under the settlement, $400,000 were allotted as repatriation fund for garment workers. Some $4 million would go to a monitoring fund to prevent the harm previously caused by the industry to the workers.

Over $565,254.80 would go to a trust fund that would be administered by the non-profit Tides Foundation for the court action before the California Superior Court.

A total of $8.75 million would go to plaintiffs’ lawyers.