Fernandez, Furey ask judge to defend NMC from ‘injustices’

Northern Marianas College president Carmen Fernandez and former acting NMI Board of Regents chair Eloise Furey have asked the Superior Court to reconsider its decision in connection with Rep. Stanley T. Torres’ lawsuit and allow NMC to defend itself “against these manifest injustices.”

Hernandez and Furey, through lawyer F. Matthew Smith, said that associate judge David A. Wiseman’s granting of summary judgment in favor of Torres contains “several clear errors” that warrant reconsideration and reversal.

“NMC also hopes the court will recognize the substantial and manifest injustice that has and will result if the current decision is allowed to stand,” said Smith in the motion for reconsideration.

In his decision, Wiseman ordered Fernandez and Furey to produce all public records being asked by the lawmaker.

In the same ruling, Wiseman denied a motion to dismiss the allegations against Fernandez and Furey.

Wiseman, however, granted a motion to dismiss the allegations against former assistant attorney general Linda Waugh and Smith.

In his 10-page order, the judge said that, according to the Open Government Act, all public records shall be available for inspection, “unless inspection of such records is in violation of any Commonwealth or federal law.”

“Here, it is evident from the record that NMC has offered to produce the requested records insofar as they do not violate any protected privacy interests or CNMI or federal law,” Wiseman said.

He agreed with Torres that the lawmaker is entitled to inspect the requested records.

The judge directed both parties to meet and confer in good faith to establish a method of producing the requested records for inspection by Torres without revealing constitutionally or legally protected records.

Torres sued Fernandez, Furey, Waugh, and Smith for allegedly not producing records that he requested pursuant to the Open Government Meetings and Records Act.

In the motion for reconsideration, Smith said NMC and the other parties in the lawsuit have incurred substantial attorneys’ fees, and the statute allows for these fees to be paid.

Smith said that more important than fees, however, is the fact that these numerous requests, made over a period of years by Torres and Jack Angello, have always been improper, and not made for any true desire for transparency in NMC’s operations.

“Throughout the history of this matter, NMC made every effort to comply with Rep. Torres’s requests—improper, abusive, and harassing though they were—but as argued before, it has never been enough for Rep. Torres,” the lawyer said.