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Fund asks federal court to hold Jorgensen, Rayphand liable to pay attorneys’ fees
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Posted on Sep 14 2011
The NMI Retirement Fund has asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to hold Commonwealth Retirement Association board member Sapuro Rayphand and his counsel Bruce Jorgensen liable to pay the Fund’s attorneys’ fees in answering to their court action “that was completely devoid of merit.”
Rayphand, represented by Jorgensen, has notified the District Court that he wants the Fund’s lawsuit against the CNMI government to be removed from the Superior Court and transferred to the federal court.
The Fund’s legal counsel Braddock J. Huesman, in a motion to remand, asserted that Rayphand’s notice of removal is defective as CRA is not a defendant in this matter and thus cannot remove the case.
Huesman said even if CRA was considered a defendant for removal purposes, not all defendants have agreed to removal.
Huesman also pointed out that there is no federal question and that even if the District Court finds federal jurisdiction, the notice of removal was untimely.
The Fund’s lawyer said the notice of removal has forced the Fund to incur further time, money and energy at a time when it can least afford to lose its focus.
Huesman asked the court that this case be remanded to the Superior Court.
“The state of Fund finds itself in is tragic. Years and years of meaningless political promises coupled with events beyond the Commonwealth’s control have conspired to place the Fund in a dire position,” he said.
Adding further injury, Huesman said, are frivolous claims and lawsuits against the Fund itself, “which are only serving to impede the Fund from protecting its members to the fullest extent possible,” he said.
Jorgensen recently filed a notice informing the District Court of his forthcoming submissions in support of consolidating Rayphand’s with the pending lawsuit filed by unnamed retirees against Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and other co-defendants.
Jorgensen also served as counsel for the unnamed retirees.
Rayphand stated that it has been more than two years now since Superior Court associate judge Kenneth L. Govendo rendered a $230 million judgment in the case yet there has been little, if any, meaningful steps toward enforcement of that judgment.
