CHIEF Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI has ordered former Imperial Pacific International LLC chair Lijie Cui to appear in court on June 18 at 9 a.m., along with a competent Mandarin interpreter, and bring financial statements demonstrating why she cannot timely pay the attorneys’ fees owed to the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
Judge Manglona also told Cui to be prepared to testify regarding her inability to pay the $182,637.53 in attorneys’ fees and costs by June 21.
On May 19, the judge granted the plaintiffs’ “second, third, fourth, and fifth petition for attorneys’ fees and costs against third-party witness Cui” arising from her violation of court orders regarding her preservation of electronically stored information or ESI data.
The judge said the violations spanned nearly a year — from the court’s initial preservation order issued on March 26, 2021 that was later amended, until “Cui’s purging of her contempt on March 10,” 2022.
“As a result of Ms. Cui’s consistent noncompliance with the court’s numerous orders, the court awarded plaintiffs attorneys’ fees and costs as part of civil contempt sanctions and permitted plaintiffs to submit fee petitions establishing their entitlement to the amount,” Judge Manglona said in her 26-page order.
Cui must pay the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs in the amount of $182,637.53 on or before June 21, the court said.
On June 6, 2022, Cui, through attorney Joey San Nicolas, filed a motion requesting the court to modify its fee order so that she may be permitted to pay monthly installments of $5,000 and pay off the full amount by June 21, 2025, rather than paying it in a lumpsum amount by June 21, 2022.
In her declaration submitted to the court, Cui said, “I presently do not have funds to pay the said attorneys’ fees and costs to plaintiffs’ attorneys.”
She added, “I will receive funds from business associates and family members to help pay for the said attorneys’ fees.”
Noting that she is very aware of the history of the case, Judge Manglona said any further briefing was unnecessary as she denied Cui and the plaintiffs’ stipulation in that regard.
Nonetheless, “because Cui bears the burden of establishing the entitlement to her request in the instant motion,” the judge scheduled a hearing.
Cui is a third-party witness in the lawsuit of 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. The lawsuit alleged labor violations and human trafficking.
Attorneys Aaron Halegua and Bruce Berline represent the plaintiffs: Tianming Wang, Dong Han, Yongjun Meng, Liangcai Sun, Youli Wang, Qingchun Xu, and Duxin Yan.
According to the judge, because the $5.4 million default judgment in favor of the plaintiffs against IPI remained unsatisfied, all ESI data held by the former IPI chair remain relevant to the proceeding.
IPI has appealed the judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
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