“I have received the hourly billings from both attorneys for the Malite Estate, and I disallow it in its entirety,” the judge said. “These attorneys are not entitled to one cent from the…estate — therefore they owe the estate $1,288,500.”
Govendo ordered the two lawyers to report to the Department of Corrections at 8 a.m. tomorrow. They will no longer be temporary released each week.
“I have given you more chances to settle this yet you did not take this seriously — you should be ashamed of yourselves,” Govendo told the two lawyers.
“I will call [Corrections] at 8:15 a.m., and if you are not there I will issue bench warrants for your arrest,” the judge added.
Govendo said Yana will have to pay $330,000 while the remaining balance will be paid by Atalig.
The court awarded the Malite Estate judgment in its favor.
Exorbitant fees
Govendo said most attorneys “hardly make any fees at all in a lot of cases and the community should be proud of them for the amount of pro bono work that they do, but every once in a while, especially if it relates to probate matters and land compensation, we will see the greedy attorneys out there, and this is the category that I will put Atalig and Yana in.”
He added that this was not a difficult case and there was no significant legal research involved.
“It is more of a political act than a legal act,” the judge said.
According to Govendo, the lawyers submitted excessive billings — 572 hours to review land documents “when there’s not even land documents in the file,” and 20 hours bill to research a two-page 1978 Trust Territory document.
Disgraceful
Atalig submitted billings for 6,108 hours of services in a 13-year period.
“Mr. Yana and Mr. Atalig you are members of the bar and this is disgraceful,” Govendo said.
“You thought you were going to get away with it, and you have done your best to get rid of every other judge who has come anywhere close to this…. You have been ordered to disgorge the fees and not one dollar has come to this court.”
Yana has said that he could not recall where the money went and he needed more time to refresh his memory.
But Govendo noted that Yana’s expenses included over $50,000 spent on food, toys and gifts; $12,000 given to his sister to buy a family van; $40,000 for buying an office building in the Philippines; $5,000 for fixing a bathroom; and $5,000 for her sister who researched U.S. immigration cases.
Govendo also mentioned that $1,800 was spent on DVDs and over $2,000 on computer games.
“What is appalling to me was before you received your fees you knew it was going to be contested and it was not going to be accepted by a large number of Malite heirs yet you went on a spending spree and acted like Santa Claus for a year!” the judge said.
In an interview, Yana said he expected the judge’s decision.
“We can’t return the money because we don’t have it. We’ll just have to wait and see,” he added.
He said he will report to Corrections.
“I’m kind of used to it — we’ve been there for nine months,” Yana added. “There’s nothing I can do about it so I guess I’ll have to go to jail and keep on going to jail until the end of the world,” the 65-year-old lawyer said, adding in jest that he might die in a year or two so he would just stay in jail for two years.
Atalig described Govendo’s decision as “crazy.”
“That judge has to pay his dues, too. He loves to send people to jail and he smokes marijuana. He should not be on the bench but he should be jailed, too,” Atalig said, adding that he has witnesses to prove his allegation.
“Who does he think can handle this kind of case for free? It’s just stupid,” Atalig said.
Atalig was represented attorney Douglas Cushnie.
Yana and Atalig said they are going to file an appeal.
Attorney Stephen Nutting, who represents the Malite heirs, said he was very happy with the judge’s decision.
Esther Sound, the estate administrator, said: “It’s been very tough for our family, and we put up with it. I appreciate Attorney Nutting’s efforts in standing behind us through all this.”
She said Atalig and Yana took advantage of her elder’s lack of knowledge.
“Most of them didn’t know how to read, and they didn’t allow us to come in to translate the information to our elders,” she said.
Govendo sent both lawyers to jail in March last year for civil contempt for failing to return the $1,288,500 in attorneys’ fees they got from the Malite Estate.
