SUPERIOR Court Judge Joseph N. Camacho has granted the request of attorney Robert Myers Jr. to dismiss the disciplinary complaint filed against him by the NMI Bar Association.
“A plain reading of the rules shows that none of the members of the Disciplinary Committee were duly elected,” Judge Camacho said in his order. “As such, the Disciplinary Committee lacks the jurisdiction and authority to investigate or act on any disciplinary matter,” he added.
Previously, NMI Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexandro Castro appointed attorney Cong Nie of the Banes Horey Berman & Miller law firm as prosecuting counsel in the NMI Bar’s complaint against Myers.
On July 17, 2024, Nie filed a complaint for disciplinary action, stating that Myers was suspended from the practice of law on May 17, 2019.
“An attorney suspended from the practice of law is prohibited by Rule 17(c) of the NMI Rules of Attorney Discipline and Procedure from accepting any new retainer or engaging as the attorney in any new case or legal matter,” Nie said.
Despite the suspension, he said Myers continued to practice law in the CNMI by engaging as attorney in new legal matters.
Myers, represented by attorney Michael Dotts, asked the court to dismiss the complaint on two grounds.
“First, that the members of the Disciplinary Committee were not elected by the majority of active members of the CNMI Bar, rendering their actions in investigating and referring the matter for prosecution ultra vires or without authority and in violation of Myers’s due process rights. Second, that the suspension order that this action arises out of was never served on Myers,” Dotts said.
“It is believed that the basis for his suspension was Myers’s failure to pay Bar dues,” Dotts added.
“The complaint alleged that on February 7, 2020, Myers was notified of the suspension order. The complaint does not allege how the suspension order was served and there is no explanation in the complaint why the Bar waited nine months to serve the suspension order,” Dotts said.
In March 2020, Myers provided a legal opinion to the Rota Casino Gaming Commission. “Myers’s opinion was that the mayor may reappoint members to the Commission without another confirmation hearing,” Dotts said.
He noted that his client had not received the suspension order in the mail or any other way prior to issuing the legal opinion in March 2020.
“The NMI Bar has no record of having mailed the suspension order to Myers (although they are looking now). When Myers gave the opinion to the Rota Casino Gaming Commission, he had no reason to believe he had been suspended from the practice of law,” Dotts added.
“The Disciplinary Committee is made up of five members of the NMI Bar who are elected by the majority of the active members of the NMI Bar. In 2022, the NMI Bar had 166 active members. In 2023, the NMI Bar had 154 active members. None of the members of the Disciplinary Committee elected in 2022 or 2023 were elected by a majority of the active members of the NMI Bar Association,” Dotts said.
“The Disciplinary Committee, through Nina Seelam, investigated whether Myers had practiced law while suspended. Seelam had been elected to the Disciplinary Committee in February 2023. Seelam had only received 17 votes. The Disciplinary Committee received the report of Seelam and voted to refer Myers for prosecution. None of the members of the Disciplinary Committee voting on the report had been elected to the Disciplinary Committee by a majority of the active members of the NMI Bar,” Dotts said.
Judge Camacho’s order noted that on Nov. 8, 2024, a proposed amendment was submitted to the CNMI Legislature clarifying that “committee members are elected by a majority of election participants instead of all attorneys.”
Specifically, Judge Camacho said, the proposed amendment sought to change Rule 7(a)(2) of the NMI Rules of Attorney Discipline and Procedure from “must [b]e elected by a majority vote of active members of the Bar Association” to “must be elected by a majority of votes cast by active members of the Bar Association.”
On Dec. 18, 2024, the CNMI Senate unanimously rejected the proposed amendment.
“The unanimous rejection by the Senate shows legislative intent to keep Rule 7(a)(2) ‘elected by a majority vote of active members.’ The current (and still unaltered) Rule 7(a)(2) requires a mandatory majority vote of active members,” the judge said.
“There is nothing defective or ambiguous about Rule 7(a)(2) requiring [that] Disciplinary Committee members be elected by a majority of the full number of active members of the NMI Bar Association. The NMI Bar Association simply failed to follow Rule 7(a)(2) in conducting the 2022 and 2023 Disciplinary Committee elections,” he added.
Judge Camacho also dismissed a separate disciplinary complaint against another attorney, Shelli Neal, that was filed by the NMI Bar for the same reason: its “Disciplinary Committee [members] are not duly elected members, therefore the disciplinary committee members lack authority to investigate or act on disciplinary complaints.”
The complaint accused Neal, who was also represented by Dotts, of misconduct and lack of due diligence in her representation of a client in a civil action.
