AS instructed by the federal court, attorney William M. Fitzgerald filed a motion to disqualify Assistant Attorneys General Leslie Heather and Jose P. Mafnas from representing CNMI Department of Corrections officials in the lawsuit of Reynaldo A. Manila, a former inmate, for conflict of interest.
Fitzgerald, who represents Manila, said, “An irreparable conflict of interest exists between the Commonwealth and the individual defendants on the issue of indemnification.”
Allowing the Attorney General’s Office to represent the defendants or assert that indemnification is not available is essentially authorizing the AG’s office to intentionally place the Commonwealth’s adverse interests above and beyond the interests of their other clients, the individual defendants, Fitzgerald said.
“Such a circumstance will serve to undermine the paramount concern for public confidence in the legal profession and to protect the integrity of the judicial proceeding, as well as the paramount concern for divided loyalty associated with an attorney representing concurrent clients with materially adverse interests,” Fitzgerald added.
For her part, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI ordered that the Office of the AG’s limited appearance filings be converted to a motion to intervene on behalf of the CNMI government.
To properly resolve the legal issues underlying the concern regarding “conflict of interest,” the judge also instructed Manila’s attorney to file a motion to disqualify the AG’s office and/or the assistant AGs from representing the defendants.
Reynaldo A. Manila was still serving a 60-year prison sentence for the death of his six-month-old goddaughter in 2000 when he sued the Corrections officials, alleging federal rights violations.
Manila has returned to the Philippines after he was paroled in January 2021.
Fitzgerald and co-counsel Bruce L. Berline have pointed out a potential conflict of interest on the part of the defendants’ attorneys, AAG Jose P. Mafnas Jr. and Leslie A. Healer.
Specifically, Manila’s attorneys said, the AAGs have indicated that the Office of the AG’s position was that CNMI law precluded the indemnification of Commonwealth government employees if sued in their personal capacity.
Judge Manglona said the question is whether in view of the Office of the AG’s interpretation of CNMI law the AAGs could represent the defendants as zealous advocates when those AAGs will not advocate for the CNMI to indemnify their clients.
Manila in his lawsuit named then-Corrections Commissioner Robert Guerrero and Corrections officials Jose K. Pangelinan and Georgia M. Cabrera as defendants.
Manila said the defendants were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs, and “purposely delayed my medical treatment although they knew that further delay would lead to total irreversible blindness.”
The federal court earlier ruled that “the Commonwealth enjoys immunity from suit for damages specifically under 42 U.S.C. § 1983…. For the same reason, Defendants…may not be sued in their official capacities. However, they may be sued in their individual capacities.”
