Imperial Pacific International has met the standards of an order issued by the federal court and managed to prevent some sanctions, including imprisonment for executives of the casino developer, in the legal action filed by its former employee Joshua Gray.
At a hearing that took place a few days ago, Mr. Gray informed the federal court that its former employer Imperial Pacific International had been compliant with the court order. The company had also fully paid his attorney’s fees.
During a show-cause hearing on October 7th, the District Court’s Chief Judge Ramona Manglona found that the local casino developer has been disobedient to a previous court order under which some sanctions have been issued in the lawsuit. At the time, the judge also issued a written order to set October 14th as the deadline for the operator to fully pay the plaintiff.
The Federal Judge explained that, according to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Imperial Pacific had not complied with the consent decree issued on April 27th, 2021. A Commission’s counsel has informed the court he had gotten in contact with the casino developer on numerous occasions, both over the phone and in writing, but the defendant’s compliance with the consent decree had not been secured.
At the time, the EEOC counsel also revealed that although Imperial Pacific was ordered to pay a total of $105,000 to the plaintiff, as of October 7th, the company had paid only $60,000, and had delayed the $15,000 monthly payment for August and September 2021.
Imperial Pacific Paid Attorney’s Fees in Full, Casino Developer’s Attorney Says
Chief Judge Manglona has shared that the Imperial Pacific’s CEO Ray Yumul, Vice President for external affairs Tao Xing, and the rest of the IPI directors, executives and officers have been informed that both the casino developer and they personally would be found in contempt should they fail to comply with the aforementioned fee order. This would have made them subject to greater sanctions, including but not limited to 3-day imprisonment until the contempt is cured and a monetary fine.
In April 2021, the federal court issued an order against the casino developer. At the time, the court also ordered Magistrate Judge Heather Kennedy to file a default against Imperial Pacific International as the defendant had failed to comply with a previous discovery order, which basically means that the case had been won by the plaintiff but the matter of any financial compensation for damages was not been settled.
Last week, attorney Stephen Nutting, who represents Imperial Pacific International in court, filed a notice of compliance with the court order. The company’s legal representative informed the court that IPI the fees and costs of the attorney, which totaled $19,616.25, were paid in full by the operator in advance of the deadline that was imposed by the court order.
As explained by Mr. Nutting, a copy of the contempt order was handed to all Imperial Pacific’s executives.
The plaintiff, who was represented by Fitzgerald and Bruce Berline, has taken the casino investment and development company to court after accusing it of discrimination.
