Two lawyers thrown in jail

Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo threw lawyers Reynaldo O. Yana and Antonio M. Atalig in jail yesterday for not complying with his order to return the $1.3 million in attorney’s fees that the two received in the controversial Angel Malite estate probate.

Govendo ordered Yana and Atalig to report to the Department of Corrections to serve their 30-day sentence for civil contempt. Govendo said the two may purge the contempt by posting $1,285,500.

The judge stressed that court orders are court orders that need to be followed.

He noted that Yana and Atalig made no efforts at all to try to return even just a bit of the $1.3 million or to make a report as to where any of the money had gone.

After the hearing that lasted only about 30 minutes, two court marshals escorted Yana and Atalig to the marshals’ office. After a few minutes, two summons police officers arrived at the marshal’s office and transported the two lawyers to DOC.

Yana stated, among other things, that he was unaware that the court wanted them to at least try to return some of the amount.

Attorney Stephen Nutting, counsel for some Malite heirs, enumerated to the court the previous orders that Yana and Atalig allegedly never complied with.

Attorney F. Mathew Smith, counsel for Malite heir Angel Taman, told Saipan Tribune that Yana and Atalig had already been found in contempt and were just given a couple of months to rectify it.

“And they did nothing. That’s why they were put in jail with the hope that that will compel them to actually do something,” Smith said.

Smith said they are now hoping to find out where the money went and get it back to the court.

“All along, we’re not against Atalig and Yana being paid. But it should be done properly,” he pointed out.

On Jan. 15, 2008, Govendo issued an order requiring Atalig and Yana to return the attorneys’ fees in the amount of $1,138,500 for the civil case and $150,000 for the first distribution in the probate case by Feb. 29, 2008.

Since the order was issued, neither Atalig nor Yana has returned the fees in full or in part.

On March 11, 2008, Govendo directed the two lawyers to show cause why the court should not take further action to coerce compliance with the Nov. 6, 2007 order, where the court ordered them to return the attorneys fees by Dec. 7, 2007, and the Jan. 15, 2008 order, where the court again directed them to return the fees by Feb. 29, 2008.

The judge set the hearing for yesterday at 9am to provide the counsels an opportunity to be heard and argue their positions.

Govendo earlier stated that incarceration under a civil contempt order pending compliance with the court’s order is within his authority and is a well-recognized method of coercing compliance with court orders.

In February 2008, Govendo granted the Malite heirs’ petition to name Jimmy G. Sablan and Esther Fejeran Sound as replacement for Malite estate administrator Jesus C. Tudela, who had been removed from the post.

The judge asked Sablan and Sound to immediately start getting surveyors for the remaining Malite lands and plan on how to divide them among the heirs.

Govendo kicked out Tudela as the estate administrator for mismanagement, after Tudela failed to object to an alleged inflated attorneys fees that reached a total of $1.3 million. That fee was received by Tudela’s lawyers, Atalig and Yana.

Govendo suspended Yana and Atalig from practicing law for their failure to return the fees. The Supreme Court, however, stopped the suspension and set an oral argument last March 11.