CHIEF Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI said former Imperial Pacific International LLC chair Lijie Cui has purged her contempt “to the limited extent of issuing the subpoena [to the maker of iPhones] and giving access to her Apple iCloud account.”
At a hearing on Wednesday, Judge Manglona ordered Cui to file a sworn statement identifying and explaining the existence of any and all electronically stored information or ESI backup accounts, whether it be iTunes or iCloud, including her QQ account, no later than Dec. 8.
Cui was also directed to address in the sworn statement the March 21, 2021 initialization of her phone and explain why Fely Forbes from IT&E saw her use a QQ email address.
Judge Manglona said the plaintiffs can file a response no later than Dec. 15.
She also warned Cui about the consequences of contempt.
As to plaintiffs’ motion for order to show cause, and third motion for attorney’s fees, attorney Joey San Nicolas, who represents Cui, told the court that he will file an opposition to the order to show cause and motion for attorney’s fees.
Judge Manglona scheduled a status conference for Dec. 22, at 8:30 a.m. via Zoom to further address Cui’s compliance regarding the ESI backup.
The judge earlier found Cui in contempt of court, again, for failing to provide backups of her ESI and the correct login information for her iCloud account.
The judge also awarded the plaintiffs attorneys’ fees for having to pursue this specific portion of the order to show cause.
Cui is a third-party witness in the lawsuit of the seven construction workers against IPI and its former contractor and subcontractor, MCC International and Gold Mantis Construction Decoration, both of which have already settled with the plaintiffs: Tianming Wang, Dong Han, Yongjun Meng, Liangcai Sun, Youli Wang, Qingchun Xu, and Duxin Yan.
Halegua and attorney Bruce Berline represent the plaintiffs.
Judge Manglona has entered a $5.4 million default judgment in favor of the plaintiffs against IPI.
The judgment remains unsatisfied, and this is the reason why all ESI data held by the former IPI chair remain relevant to the proceedings, Judge Manglona has said.
At the hearing on Wednesday, the judge also granted the request of attorney David Lujan to withdraw from representing Cui.
