CNMI Retirement Fund files lawsuit against local based company

Owner of locally based Express Electronics Ltd., believes the Superior Court of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) will rule in favor of the company over a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the CNMI Retirement Fund.

The CNMI based Saipan Tribune newspaper reported on Apr. 5 that the CNMI Retirement Fund has filed a lawsuit against Gerhard ‘Gary’ Sword and his company for the alleged defective pension software that has already cost the Fund $406,060.

The defendants, including ten unnamed co-defendants, are accused of breach of contract and unjust enrichment, the newspaper reports, adding that the Superior Court has been asked to hold all defendants liable for damages, prejudgment interest, and court costs.

Responding to Samoa News inquiries, Sword said over the weekend, that “we are in litigation due to a change in management and understanding of the project. Data from their old system is the main issue.”

“The lawyers are working on it and there will be resolution from the courts in our favor when the time comes,” said Sword via e-mail.

The CNMI Retirement Fund alleges that the defendants failed to deliver on a contract — which was executed on Apr. 20, 2008 — to create a customized pension administration system for the Fund, the Saipan Tribune reports.

“The pension software provided is neither integrated nor automated and fails to provide a mechanism to address all benefits managed by the Fund,” the lawsuit alleges, adding that the defendants made no effort to present an implementation plan to address these defects, and have taken no steps to correct them.

The defendants were also sued in January this year by two Fund members over the same alleged non-functioning pension software, according to the Saipan Tribune.