By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood will finally hear arguments this morning on the motion of Gov. Felix Camacho to approve the administration’s $90 million settlement with two Earned Income Tax Credit groups.
The pending motion is the petition of the governor and the counsels of two EITC classes — the Santos and Torres groups — for preliminary approval of the agreement they entered into on May 26, 2006.
The motion is being opposed by another EITC class, the Simpao et al. who raised several questions before the court and wants to go back to the negotiating table with the legal representatives of the governor and the two EITC classes.
Santos’s group is being represented by Atty. Mike Phillips while Torres’s group’s lawyer is Peter C. Perez with the Office of the Governor being represented by its conflict-counsel Atty. Daniel Benjamin of Calvo & Clark LLP.
Opposing the settlement is Simpao’s class represented by Atty. Curtis Van de Veld and Seatlle-based lawyers Atty. Kim Stephens and Nancy Pacharzina.
Stephens and Pacharzina will be joining the hearing via teleconference which will begin at 9:30 a.m.
For the hearing to proceed in a timely and organized manner, Judge Tydingco-Gatewood ordered all parties to present their arguments within 45 minutes and focus on the matters that are most important for the court’s consideration.
The $90 million settlement was stalled by the petition filed by former Attorney General Douglas Moylan questioning the authority of the governor to decide on the tax matters of the island.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, rejected the AG’s appeal returning the EITC litigation to its old status with the earlier ruling of Judge Ricardo Martinez that the governor has control over tax litigation.
Atty. Benjamin earlier said that as soon as the court approves the settlement, the administration can start sending out notices to the class.
Under the new settlement, the governor will initially pay $10 million to be made available from funds set aside by the Department of Tax and Revenue.
The ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals prompted the former AG to give up the 93 cases of the Department of Revenue and Tax.
Cases involving a number of prominent local companies like Mobil Oil, Bank of Guam, Hotel Okura, and InterPacific Resorts Corporation and 20 non-litigation cases were affected by Moylan’s decision because the tax department said they did not have enough legal resources to go after tax fraud and tax evasion cases.