Guam Governor Eddie Calvo will continue to hold his ground against the federal order that requires the government to pay tax funds. Legal counsels of the governor stated that they might take the file to the high order of Supreme Court. Moreover, a global law firm has reached its arms to the governor's cause.
The 54-year old governor of Guam is in a legitimate battle against the court order that requires the government of Guam to pay the tax refund not later than six months after the deadline. According to Japan Times, the governor's attorney filed an emergency application that is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to continue a stay on the government's mandate to pay the plaintiff's attorney fees. This is in accordance with the previous argument of the governor's council that says Guam should not be liable for any attorney fees due to Guam being a federal agency merely collecting taxes. Moreover, the federal court ordered them to pay as much as $1.7 million to the plaintiff's lawyers that were based on the federal law but this doesn't apply to Guam due to its sovereignty as disclosed by Governor Calvo.
In line with the recently filed documents to the federal court that will take the case to the Supreme Court, the details were provided. The Pacific Daily News reported that court documents from Calvo's legal counsel rendered that "Courts have universally held that federal agencies - as distinct from states and local governments - and their officials cannot be liable for attorney's fees." Also, they've added that imposing these attorney fees is inconsistent to the relationship between Guam and the federal government. Lastly, the Guam Governor's attorneys argued that the federal court's action is both unprecedented and unsupported by authority due to its nature especially with the threat of contempt.
However, hope is not lost since one global law firm has already reached out to the governor's office wanting to extend a helping arm in pursuing the case. As written by Pacific Islands Report, Kirkland and Ellis has given their interest to fight the case alongside Calvo, Fisher and Jacob for free. It should be noted that the firm is famous for representing other U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and American Samoa in cases that involved federal and territorial situations. Last of all, the firm believes that resolving the case could improve the inconsistent interpretations of the Ninth Circuit with Guam and the United States.
Guam Governor Eddie Calvo is now on his new battle to challenge the federal order but this time he is backed by a global firm that has helped countries in related disputes. The governor had until December 31 to file the petition regarding the consideration of tax refund case in U.S. Supreme Court.
