‘Judgment enforceable sans legislative funding’

The federal court has ruled it can enforce its judgments against CNMI government agencies even if the Legislature has not appropriated money to satisfy such judgments.

“The failure of the Legislature to fulfill its constitutional mandate does not, cannot, and will not prevent the court from taking all necessary steps to ensure that its judgments are enforceable,” according to U.S. District Court for the MMI chief judge Alex R. Munson in his order issued Tuesday.

“A court that cannot enforce its judgments must forever close its doors, as it will have become nothing more than an historical curiosity,” said Munson in granting Antonio S. Camacho’s motion for writ of execution.

The judge stayed Camacho from attempting to enforce the $239,397 judgment he had obtained against the Department of Public Lands as the successor of the defunct Marianas Public Lands Authority until Oct. 24, 2008, to allow the parties to reach a mutually agreeable method to pay the judgment.

“If no agreement can be reached within that time, [Camacho] may pursue the remedies sought in his motion, including a writ of execution,” the judge said.

In December 2006, a federal jury found DPL, as the successor to the defunct MPLA, liable to pay $239,397 to Camacho over the taking of his land in Gualo Rai.

The jurors reached a verdict finding that all the property of Camacho was taken in the early 1990s.

The jurors determined that Camacho’s property was taken on Feb. 28, 1992, and that the fair market value of his land during the time of taking was $95 per square meter.

The jurors found that an annual 6 percent interest rate should be applied to compensate Camacho.

Attorney Michael Dotts served as Camacho’s lawyer.

DPL appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. DPL’s appeal was dismissed in August 2007 for failure to file an opening brief. The case lay dormant until Camacho filed the instant motion for writ of execution.

DPL urged the federal court to defer to Commonwealth law and agree with them that Camacho has no means to enforce the judgment without an appropriation by the Legislature.

DPL cited the Commonwealth Code, which directs that payment of judgments rendered against the Commonwealth government are to be paid by legislative appropriation.

In his decision, Munson said if the court were required to balance the interests of its ability to enforce validly-rendered judgments versus the right of the Legislature to fulfill its statutory duties, the court finds “that the balance tilts overwhelmingly in favor of protecting the independence of the federal judiciary and of providing federal litigants in the Commonwealth a meaningful, timely avenue to collect judgments.”