In a hearing on Jan. 16, Govendo granted Yana’s request to have more time to “refresh his memory over and remember his expenses” until the next hearing on Jan. 28, 2009.
During the previous hearing, Yana requested copies of the checks he wrote that Malite Estate attorney Stephen Nutting had obtained.
Yana said he did not keep track of his checks and that some of the check records were missing from his office.
Govendo said he found it ridiculous that the lawyers did not keep track of their expenses.
The judge then discussed the details of the hourly billings
Atalig charged the estate for a total of over 6,000 hours.
Govendo said some details in the hourly billings included tasks where the defendant’s clients were not supposed to be billed.
“I am giving the defendants another chance, but I want Jan. 28 to be the last time for the issue to be resolved,” Govendo said.
Atalig appeared with his counsel, Douglas Cushnie.
Atalig and Yana are still temporarily out of jail until the hearing set on Jan. 28.
Nutting, who represents the Malite heir claimants, said Atalig and Yana were ordered to be back in court to explain and present their side on where the money went.
“The court gave them another opportunity to air their side, but as I have explained during the last hearing, the judge seemed skeptical over the amount of hours they spent in submitting very few documents to the court,” Nutting said.
He added that the court will have to make a decision on whether or not the defendants are entitled to any fees as opposed to a Supreme Court ruling that any lawyer who submits an excessive bill is not entitled to any fees whatsoever.
“Otherwise, this will encourage lawyers to submit excessive bills and the only way to avoid this is for the court to deny the fees altogether,” Nutting said.
In March 2008, Govendo sent Yana and Atalig to prison until they return the $1,288,500 attorneys’ fees they got from the Malite estate.
The amount involved $1,138,500 in the civil case and $150,000 in the first distribution in the probate case. The judge said since he issued the order, neither Atalig or Yana had returned the fees in part or in full.
