FOR lack of opposition, attorney Aaron Halegua has renewed his request for the federal court to issue an order requiring Imperial Pacific International LLC chairwoman Cui Li Jie to make a forensic copy of her cell phone, including all WeChat data, as well as any other email accounts, messaging accounts or other electronically stored information or ESI used by her.
Aaron Halegua
In a motion to support his request filed on Wednesday, Halegua stated that “Ms. Cui’s opposition was due no later than 14 days from the filing of the motion, thus March 16. Ms. Cui did not file any opposition.”
In addition, he said, Cui has neither contacted the plaintiffs to ask for more time (or to discuss any other aspect of the motion) nor has she requested an extension from the court.
According to Halegua, in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a party that does not oppose a motion is deemed to have consented to granting the motion.
Because Cui has not filed any opposition, Halegua asked the District Court for the NMI to grant his request without delay.
“If an order is not issued, this data will likely be lost forever and result in irreparable harm to plaintiffs, particularly as they seek to enforce the forthcoming default judgment against IPI,” Halegua added.
He said there is also no issue as to service because Cui’s attorney, Juan T. Lizama, filed a notice of appearance for the case on Feb. 16, 2021.
Halegua said he emailed Lizama a copy of the motion as well as Halegua’s declaration and the plaintiffs’ proposed order on the same day the motion was filed.
Halegua and Bruce Berline are the lawyers of seven construction workers who have sued IPI and its former contractor and subcontractor, MCC International and Gold Mantis, over labor and human trafficking allegations.
The plaintiffs have already reached a settlement agreement with MCC International and Gold Mantis.
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona, for her part, found Cui in contempt of court for not complying with a subpoena.
The judge ordered the IPI chairwoman to pay the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs in the amount of $33,890.10 no later than March 5, 2021.
The judge likewise granted the plaintiffs’ motion for an entry of default.
In his initial motion, Halegua stated that “it is quite clear that IPI is unlikely to pay…judgment, and plaintiffs will need to aggressively search for assets held by IPI and invoke judicial assistance to execute on them.”
IPI has repeatedly claimed that it has no revenue and no money available, the lawyer added.
“When judgments have been obtained against IPI by other creditors, IPI has not paid but rather sought other ways to stay enforcement,” he said.
For instance, Halegua pointed out, Pacific Rim obtained a multi-million-dollar judgment against IPI and had to move the court to issue writs of execution against IPI’s gaming equipment, vehicles, and other assets before IPI found the money to post a bond and stay these enforcement actions.
According to Halegua, as part of discovery, the plaintiffs will certainly seek information from Cui and IPI Holdings about their financial relationship with IPI, transfers made to IPI, and their knowledge of assets and other funds available to IPI.
However, if steps are not taken now to preserve this evidence, then the plaintiffs’ right to seek discovery will become hollow Halegua said.
“A preservation order is necessary to avoid that injustice,” he added.
The plaintiffs are Tianming Wang, Dong Han, Yongjun Meng, Liangcai Sun, Youli Wang, Qingchun Xu, and Duxin Yan. They have asked the federal court to issue an order awarding them $3.86 million in compensatory damages and $7.72 million in punitive damages.
Attorney Michael Dotts represents IPI CNMI in the lawsuit.
