Torres: Deposition a fishing expedition to embarrass me

Lt. Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres has filed a motion seeking a court order to protect him from being embarrassed, annoyed, or unduly burdened by an “excessive deposition” at the hands of Glen Hunter’s lawyer.

Torres, through assistant attorney general David Lochabay, filed Friday in Superior Court a motion for protective order after he appeared for his deposition in court last Jan. 29.

Lochabay said the transcript of the two-hour deposition makes it clear that Hunter, through counsel Jennifer Dockter, is on an “impermissible fishing expedition” seeking to rummage around in Torres’ affairs in an effort to embarrass, disrupt, and annoy.

Deposition refers to the taking of testimony of a witness outside of court.

A discovery dispute has arisen in the case after Lochabay advised Torres not to answer some of Dockter’s questions regarding some lawmakers’ Hong Kong trip in 2013 and 2014.

The court will hear Torres’ motion on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 1:30pm. Hunter has yet to submit a reply to the motion as of press time.

Lochabay said Hunter, through Dockter, clearly seeks to sensationalize his case with unnecessary tales of “junkets” in an effort to annoy and embarrass Torres and others.

Lochabay said Dockter spent the vast majority of the two-hour deposition inquiring into, among other things, matters of legislative process, propriety of passing bills without first sending them to committee, participation in drafting bills, and fact-finding trips abroad.

“None of these lines of questioning even remotely relate to whether or not the Senate President (now lieutenant governor) knew that attendance at one or more of the four aggrieved Senate sessions was in violation of the Open Government Act,” he said.

Lochabay asserted that Dockter has not and logically cannot proffer any connection between a fact-finding mission relating to the casino industry and a basic understanding of the Commonwealth’s law on open meetings.

Lochabay said maybe if the alleged purpose of the trip was training on “sunshine laws” in general, or on the Open Government Act specifically, Dockter could possibly make the necessary connection.

“But that is not the set of facts we are given,” he pointed out.

Lochabay said neither Torres’ understanding of how bills are sent to committee, nor his alleged participation in the drafting of a House bill are relevant to Hunter’s claims, as drafting of proposed legislation and sending bills to committee are not affected by the Open Government Act.

Lochabay said Dockter’s lines of questioning represent nothing more than a bad faith fishing expedition, and are outside of the permissive scope of discovery.

He said most of Hunter’s deposition questions relate to similar issues not reasonably calculated to lead to discovery of admissible evidence.

Lochabay said Torres should not have to suffer a bad faith fishing expedition into unrelated matters when he should instead be conducting the government’s business.

Lochabay asked the court to prohibit Hunter from engaging in these abusive discovery practices as he, through counsel, is clearly asking question that will not lead to the discovery of admissible evidence relating to his Open Government Act claims.

“A protective order is clearly appropriate in this case to prevent this type of abuse and harassment,” he pointed out.

Lochabay said the court should limit the deposition of Torres to questions relating to his attendance at the relevant Senate sessions (not in dispute), and whether or not he had knowledge regarding necessary notice as required by the Open Government Act.

Lochabay noted that Torres testified repeatedly that he sought and relied on the advice of legislative counsel as to the 72-hour notice requirement, not only in this case but in all matters that came before the Senate.

Lochabay said Hunter clearly believes something untoward must have occurred leading up to the passage of the bills collectively making up the Casino Act.

“However, he has no evidence of such, and has made no such allegations in the present lawsuit,” he noted.

Hunter is suing the government, Gov. Eloy Inos, Torres, House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), and two other lawmakers.

Hunter has asked the court to issue a declaratory judgment, explicitly stating that the Open Government Act does, in fact, apply to the Legislature, and that the lawmakers named in the lawsuit are properly before the court for violating their public notice provisions.