ATTORNEY Michael Dotts, who represents Price Shoiter, has requested the federal court to enforce the settlement agreement and re-open the proceedings in his client’s lawsuit against the Department of Corrections.
Dotts said the agreement provided that in the event that clemency was denied by the governor, the case would be put back on the trial calendar.
Shoiter, a 74-year-old Chuukese national, was sentenced in 2016 to a 10-year prison sentence for sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl. He has sued the Department of Corrections and its former and current officials in federal court, alleging that he was denied adequate medical care.
In February 2021, a settlement agreement was agreed and signed by all parties, contingent on the governor’s approval of Shoiter’s application for conditional clemency.
Dotts said, on Dec. 3, 2021, defendants announced to the court that the governor had denied Shoiter’s application for conditional clemency.
Dotts said Shoiter, among other things, was to receive a conditional clemency, heart surgery and knee surgery before a certain deadline, and payment to his counsel of a lump sum amount to cover his damages.
“Since conditional clemency was of such importance for Shoiter, the whole settlement was conditioned upon Shoiter receiving conditional clemency from the governor,” Dotts added.
With Shoiter’s clemency denied, the lawyer said, the settlement agreement has become null and void.
Dotts asked the court to place the lawsuit back on the calendar by either enforcing Section 4.1.3 of the settlement agreement, or in the alternative, vacating the dismissal order and reopening the case pursuant to Rule 60(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
“Defendant’s repudiation is clear. In exchange for Shoiter dropping his claims, he would receive various medical treatment, a payment to cover his damages, and conditional clemency,” Dotts said.
Since the medical treatment should have been given to him regardless of his settlement because medical care while incarcerated is a constitutional right, clemency was the most important consideration, Dotts said.
“Without clemency, Shoiter would have never agreed to dismiss his case,” he added.
The lawyer also noted that “the payment of the damages was due by August 31, 2021, and was not paid.”
“It is unfortunate that the Governor denied clemency but that is the right of the Governor,” Dotts said. “It should be noted that both the Board of Parole and the Attorney General recommended clemency. But the situation is there was a failure of consideration for the settlement when the Governor denied clemency. The parties had anticipated that this could happen. In case it did they provided in their Agreement the remedy of placing the case back on the trial calendar. The court retained jurisdiction so it could enforce the Settlement Agreement that included this remedy.”
