Judge orders Tang to present status of Settlement Fund

U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood has set a hearing to get an update on the status of the Settlement Fund, which was created under the settlement agreement in Betty Johnson’s class action.

Tydingco-Gatewood on Thursday ordered the appointed Settlement Fund trustee, the Guam-based Civille & Tang law firm through its principal representative, attorney Joyce C. H. Tang, to present an update on the Settlement Fund’s status.

The judge directed Tang to conduct the presentation in court on March 18, 2015, at 9am.

Tang was directed to file a status report with the court no later than March 13, 2015.

Pursuant to the settlement agreement, the court appointed Tang as trustee in September 2013. As trustee, Tang is vested with all the powers of a federal receiver.

In January 2014, assistant attorney general Reena J. Patel, counsel for the CNMI government, submitted in court a report on the status of the Commonwealth’s compliance with the settlement.

Patel disclosed that the government has complied with the terms of the agreement, including the payment of $3.75 million in annual contributions for the first quarter of fiscal year 2014.

At the end of January 2014, the Settlement Fund had assets totaling $106.3 million—an increase of $1.5 million from Dec. 31, 2013’s balance, according to the Settlement Fund’s investment consultant, Maggie Ralbolvsky of Wilshire Consulting, during her presentation in court in March 2014 on the Fund’s investment program.

In September 2013, Tydingco-Gatewood issued a final approval to a global settlement agreement in Johnson’s class action against the CNMI government and the NMI Retirement Fund.

Under the settlement agreement, the CNMI government has agreed to make annual payments sufficient to enable the Settlement Fund to pay no less than 75 percent of the class members’ benefits.

With the final approval, all assets of the Retirement Fund were subsequently transferred and assigned as assets of the Settlement Fund.

Tydingco-Gatewood approved the consent judgment against the CNMI government in favor of the Settlement Fund in the amount of $779 million, or the equivalent of the actuarial present value of benefits related to the settlement class members.