THERE was nothing wrong with Associate Justice Alexandro C. Castro’s action in soliciting donations for the CNMI Judicial Law Library, according to the Calvo & Clark law firm.
Attorney Rodney J. Jacob of Calvo & Clark said pursuant to Canon 4 of the Code of Judicial Conduct for the Commonwealth Judiciary, there is nothing improper about a judge serving as officer or director of an organization “devoted to the improvement of the law, the legal system or the administration of justice.”
Bank of Saipan receiver Randall T. Fennell maintains that Castro exceeded the bounds of Canon 4 by personally participating in public fund-raising activities for the law library funds.
“If receiver truly holds this view, one has to ask why he apparently failed to file a grievance at the relevant time,” Jacob said in Bank of Saipan, Inc.’s opposition to Fennell’s motion to disqualify Castro from presiding over the receivership proceedings.
If Fennell felt that there was judicial or attorney misconduct during the course of the Larry Hillblom estate litigation, he should have objected within those proceedings or lodged a complaint in a timely fashion before the appropriate tribunal, Jacob said.
Castro’s interest in having a well-stocked and modern law library, and the JLH Trust’s contributions toward that goal hardly constitute the sort of “direct, personal, substantial and pecuniary interest” necessary to warrant recusal of the associate justice, Jacob said.
JLH Trust donated $250,000 plus $13,000 interest to the Hillblom Memorial Fund, a charitable foundation created to benefit the Judicial Law Library. JLH Trust is a major shareholder of the Bank. Attorney David J. Lujan represents JLH Trust on the bank’s board of directors.
Jacob said JLH Trust is not obligated to make any further donations to the library and its contribution amounted to much less than 62.5 percent of the total amount donated.
Jacob said “it should be obvious by now that the receiver’s objective in moving for Castro’s disqualification is to delay and manipulate the proceedings” in the high court.
Fennell said Castro has a history of close personal contact and friendship with Lujan and former Speaker Joe Lifoifoi.
Fennell said this relationship, along with Castro’s involvement with Lujan and the JLH Trust with regard to the Hillblom Memorial Fund and the Judicial Law Library, had led both to an appearance of impartiality on the part of the justice and actual bias and prejudice in favor of Lujan and the bank’s directors.
But Calvo & Clark described the motion as “groundless” which should be rejected. The high court should proceed to consider the merits of their petition for writ of mandamus without delay, Jacob said.
The petition is asking the Supreme Court to compel the lower court to vacate its orders in the receivership and remove Fennell as receiver.
Jacob said the motion to disqualify Castro can only be perceived “as an attempt to break up the panel so that it is incapable of an expedited resolution of this writ proceedings.”
He said Fennell’s decision to reopen the bank “had the effect of bleeding $2.1 million from the bank in four days without a rehabilitation plan in place.”
The receiver, Jacob said, has intentionally excluded the bank’s board and major shareholders from the rehabilitation process.
