SAYING the lawsuit against her was unnecessary as she has “already acceded to not contest the issue by making affirmative payment almost three years ago in 2019,” former Finance Secretary Larrisa Larson told the CNMI Superior Court “that she does not contest and admits that she makes no claim to entitlement to the alleged ‘Typhoon Premium Pay’ in the amount of $36,775.43 paid to her on January 7, 2019 by the authority of former CNMI Governor Ralph DLG Torres.”
In her answer to Attorney General Edward Manibusan’s lawsuit against her, Larson also stated:
“On information and belief…employees of the Office of the Attorney General including two Assistant Attorneys General were paid the Typhoon Premium Pay so it would stand to reason that the Office of the Attorney General was aware of the alleged unauthorized disbursements since January 23, 2019. Due to the publicized objections or outcry within the Commonwealth government and the community regarding the Typhoon Premium Pay issue, without any demand or claim Ms. Larson waived and surrendered her annual leave of over $9,200.58 in the event it were determined that such pay was inappropriate.”
According to Larson, who is represented by attorney Robert T. Torres, she “does not contest nor would she oppose entry of judgment against her for the sum of $36,775.43 less credit for her waiver/surrender of her accrued annual leave in the amount of $9,200.58 which she waived on or about March 22, 2019 following her resignation as Secretary of Finance…. Apparently Plaintiff Manibusan had been aware of Ms. Larson’s self-initiated payment as recognized in ¶ 18 of his Civil Complaint, having had access to Ms. Larson’s payroll and personnel records with the Department of Finance and Office of Personnel Management.”
She said the net amount of Manibusan’s claim against her, “to which she submits and agrees to reduce to judgment, is $27,574.85.”
Larson agrees to payment on the judgment and because she has not been able to reach a stipulated judgment/agreement with Manibusan, she proposes to pay $250 per month starting on the first day of the month following entry of judgment and each month thereafter until fully satisfied.
Larson recognizes that a statutory post-judgment rate of 9% interest would accrue on the foregoing undisputed sum.
She said she proposed the foregoing sum because she is employed on an excepted service contract basis with Northern Marianas College as an instructor earning about $46,000 per year. She is also a single parent of three children, two of whom are persons with special needs, namely autistic with limited verbal abilities and limited independence.
She said with respect to the AG’s claims for declaratory judgment against her, she “submits that…Manibusan’s claims should be directed to the Office of Personnel Management and/or the Office of the Governor or former Governor Ralph DLG Torres.”
Larson added, “Those persons issued the purported unauthorized compensation directives or Executive Orders at issue in the pending civil complaint.”
She reiterated that she “issued no directives nor gave any authorization for payment of the ‘Typhoon Premium Pay’ which she admits she received….”
She likewise noted that the CNMI Superior Court, in the AG’s lawsuit against former Department of Public Safety Commissioner Robert A. Guerrero, has “declared that there was no Commonwealth law authorizing such typhoon or overtime pay and that such payment to Defendant Guerrero was in violation of the salary limitations.”
Hence, Manibusan has already obtained the declaratory rulings he seeks, Larson said.
But she also said that the AG “engages in selective resolution terms among similarly situated Commonwealth employees or former employees as to repayment, dismissing cases and affording similarly situated persons payment without prejudgment interest and any post-judgment or any interest at all, while demanding prejudgment interest and post-judgment in others such as…Larson, so that in its exercise of discretion this Court should deny costs of suit and imposition of prejudgment interest against her….”
Larson held the Finance secretary’s position from April 5, 2011 to March 22, 2019.
Manibusan has also sued other former cabinet officials for receiving excessive typhoon overtime pay.
