THE CNMI government will pay $140,000 in attorney’s fees incurred by former Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio in the lawsuit where he was ordered to pay the commonwealth $12.4 million in damages.
The settlement agreement regarding Tenorio’s attorney’s fees was brought up during Friday’s hearing in the Supreme Court.
Jeanne Rayphand and Assistant Attorney General Karen M. Klaver, who is now representing the former governor in the taxpayer’s lawsuit filed by Rayphand, confirmed the settlement.
Tenorio, in an interview with the Variety, said AGO and his previous attorneys agreed to settle.
“If I’m not mistaken, there will be an $80,000 down payment and then I’m not so sure, but I think it’s $10,000 a month. The $60,000 balance would be paid in monthly installments of $10,000,” Tenorio said.
“The fact is AGO has agreed to pay for my attorney’s fees. Meaning that the govern-ment…(acknowledges) I am being sued only in my official capacity,” he said.
Tenorio said AGO will also take over as his counsel.
Rayphand filed a lawsuit in 1994 against Tenorio and other co-defendants for alleged illegal reprogramming of funds.
In 1997, Special Judge Benjamin J. F. Cruz found Tenorio personally liable for $12.4 million in damages for the “misappropriation of funds.”
Cruz ordered Tenorio to pay Rayphand $56,679 constituting the fees and costs of her then lawyer, the late Theodore R. Mitchell.
Tenorio filed an appeal.
In 1999, the Attorney General’s Office informed Tenorio that AGO would no longer represent him in the lawsuit.
AGO’s decision prompted Tenorio to hire attorney Timothy H. Skinner and Teker Civille law office to represent him. He also sued the government.
Last year, then Associate Judge Timothy H. Bellas ruled that the government should pay Tenorio’s legal defense.
According to Klaver, the lower court stated that there was no bad faith on Tenorio’s part in spending the funds in question.
Klaver said there was no public benefit in this lawsuit so there should be no attorney’s fees awarded to Rayphand’s counsel.
Klaver said the funds that Tenorio allegedly “misappropriated” went to the scholarship program for the students, the Liberation Day celebration and other programs that benefited the public.
Klaver said Tenorio acted upon the advise of AGO when he authorized the expenditure of public funds on these programs.
What happened in the case, she said, was eight years of litigation that cost the government thousands of dollars in legal fees and time.
She said Tenorio made a political decision because there was no budget passed by the Legislature.
According to Rayphand, she does not have a personal vendetta against the former governor and his family. She said she is only concerned about the law and its precedent.
Rayphand said Tenorio went above the budget ceiling which is in violation of the Constitution.
“Public officials like the governor should know the consequence in breaking their fiduciary duty,” she said.
Rayphand said they never alleged that Tenorio stole money.
“He admitted he did it without appropriation. He violated the Constitution,” Rayphand said.
