Attorney Aaron Halegua, who represents the plaintiffs, informed Variety that Gold Mantis will have to pay a $2,000 fine daily until it complies with the court discovery order.
He said the judge told Gold Mantis that this was the final warning and she would enter a default judgment if Gold Mantis had not complied by Dec. 28, 2020.
The plaintiffs — Tianming Wang, Dong Han, Yongjun Meng, Liangcai Sun, Youli Wang, Qingchun Xu and Duxin Yan — sued Gold Mantis, MCC International Saipan Ltd. Co. and Imperial Pacific International, LLC over labor and other violations.
Gold Mantis and MCC are the former subcontractor and contractor of IPI.
Earlier this month, the federal court ordered Gold Mantis to answer in writing no later than Nov. 15, 2020 at 5 p.m. why the court should not treat its noncompliance as contempt of court; and why the court should not impose a civil contempt sanction requiring it to pay a $2,000 daily fine from the time all discovery and affidavits were to be produced.
The judge also wants Gold Mantis to explain why a default judgment should not be entered against it.
Gold Mantis attorney Tiberius Mocanu, in his reply, asked the court to give the company an opportunity to produce the necessary information by Nov. 25, 2020, and to not find Gold Mantis in default. Mocanu said production of discovery has been difficult as Gold Mantis does not have any personnel physically present in the CNMI.
Show cause
The judge also stated that she expects to schedule a hearing for next week on the plaintiffs’ motion that Imperial Pacific International Chief Executive Officer Donald Browne be imprisoned if IPI does not comply with the Aug. 25, 2020 order to pay attorney’s fees. in the amount of $92,834.25 within 30 days.
Judge Manglona granted a motion by IPI seeking more time to pay the sanction based on the declaration of its CEO.
She ordered the fee award to be paid by Oct. 24, 2020 and directed IPI to liquidate assets in order to comply.
Halegua said IPI did not pay the fee award.
He has asked the court to issue an order directing IPI to show cause (i) why it should not be held in contempt; (ii) why its CEO should not be held in contempt and face sanctions, including incarceration, until the attorney’s fee award is paid; and (iii) why additional contempt sanctions should not be imposed.
Halegua and his co-counsel, Bruce Berline, have also asked the court to issue an order awarding the plaintiffs $3.86 million in compensatory damages and $7.72 million in punitive damages.
