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‘Only issue left is attorneys’ fees’
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Posted on May 31 2012
All NMI Retirement Fund matters before the U.S. District Court for the NMI’s Bankruptcy Division will be gone once the Fund’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case is dismissed, according to veteran attorney Michael Dotts yesterday.
In an interview, Dotts said the dismissal of the Chapter 11 petition will result in the dissolution of all the other issues that Judge Robert F. Faris is working on with regards to court-approved reduction and benefits.
The Fund issues will go back to where they were before, Dotts said.
“The only leftover for the bankruptcy court is to decide how much to pay all the attorneys who showed up in the bankruptcy proceedings,” he said.
Dotts said all motions and complaints filed before the bankruptcy court will become moot or dismissed.
When the Fund filed the bankruptcy petition on April 17, something called an automatic stay stopped all actions that impact the Fund, he said. “Once the bankruptcy is dismissed, the automatic stay is also dismissed.”
All those complaints filed in the bankruptcy court, Dotts said, may have to go to the Superior Court.
Faris is set to conduct a hearing today on the motions to dismiss the bankruptcy case and various other motions.
On Tuesday, Faris, however, issued a tentative ruling, saying he is inclined to dismiss the case on the ground that the Fund is a “governmental unit” and not eligible for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.
