Guam § 14111 - Standard of Care for Accountable Officers.

§ 14111. Standard of Care for Accountable Officers.

(a) Due Care.

(1) An accountable officer must exercise the highest degree of care

in the performance of duty.

(2) An accountable officer is not liable for acts of God or the

public enemy.

(3) Neither lack of fault nor negligence affects an accountable

officer's legal liability. It may provide a basis for granting relief from

the obligation to repay the amount of the loss or erroneous payment.

(b) Proving Due Care.

(1) The loss of funds entrusted to an accountable officer raises a

rebuttable presumption of negligence. The accountable officer bears the

burden of affirmatively proving the use of the requisite degree of care.

The reasonable care standard does not vary with age or experience.

(2) Regulations dictate the accountable officer's actions in most

instances. Failure to follow the regulations will result in a finding of

negligence and a denial of relief if the negligence caused the loss.

(3) If there are no regulations governing the specific actions of the

accountable officer, the Comptroller will apply a reasonable person

standard. That is, did the accountable officer do what a reasonably

prudent and careful person would have done to take care of the person's

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4 GCA PUBLIC OFFICERS & EMPLOYEES

CERTIFYING OFFICERS

own funds or property of like description under like circumstances?

Mere agency determination that an accountable officer is faultless is

insufficient. There must be sufficient evidence included in the request

for relief for the Comptroller to independently make the same

determination as the agency.

(c) Standard of Care Required of a Supervisor. The supervisor must

maintain a system of controls to prevent losses and erroneous payments and

take steps to ensure that controls are implemented. The supervisor must

substantiate these facts. The errors of a subordinate are not the errors of the

supervisor if controls are in place to prevent mistakes. However, entrusting

funds to an inexperienced or incapable employee may make the supervisor

equally liable for the loss.

(d) A disbursing officer is entitled to rely on information from a

certifying officer:

(1) which the disbursing officer has no way of knowing is

incorrect;

(2) unless the disbursing officer has reasonable doubts as to the

correctness of the facts on or attached to the voucher.

(e) An accountable officer must make adequate efforts to collect any

erroneous payments. Within three (3) months, the debt must be sent to the

collection department or the Comptroller may deny relief. Authority to deny

relief based on lack of adequate collection efforts is discretionary, not

mandatory.

(1) The Comptroller is required to look to the collection

regulations.

(2) Generally, a single letter to a debtor is not sufficient to show an

attempt at collection.