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Manglona denies bid to enforce settlement accord with lawyer
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Posted on Dec 28 2011
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter
Reporter
The U.S. District Court for the NMI yesterday issued an order denying an investor’s motion to enforce his settlement agreement with attorney Ramon K. Quichocho and landowner Joaquin Q. Atalig.
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona denied Sin Ho Nam’s motion to enforce settlement due to lack of jurisdiction.
Manglona said a court has jurisdiction to enforce a settlement agreement only if it expressly retained such jurisdiction or otherwise embodied the settlement contract in the dismissal order.
The judge pointed out that the stipulated “order dismissing case” is silent on jurisdiction and does not mention the settlement agreement.
During oral argument on Thursday, Nam, through counsel Colin Thompson, suggested that it was the intention of the parties and the settlement judge that the district court retain jurisdiction to enforce the settlement.
But Manglona said even it this were so, the failure to express that intention in the dismissal order would be fatal to jurisdiction.
“Even a district court’s expressed intention to retain jurisdiction is insufficient to confer jurisdiction if that intention is not expressed in the order of dismissal,” said the judge, citing a previous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Nam sued Quichocho and Atalig for breaching a land lease agreement when they terminated a 55-year lease less than two years later despite having already paid $218,000.
U.S. District Court for the NMI visiting judge Mark W. Bennett found Quichocho and Atalig liable to Nam for breach of contract.
Bennett in his order stated that Nam’s remedies or question of damages and the entirety of his claim against Quichocho will proceed to trial.
On Sept. 12, 2011, Thompson and attorney Michael Dotts, counsel for Nam and Quichocho respectively, asked the court to dismiss all claims and counterclaims as they have reached a settlement. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
On Oct. 18, 2011, Manglona dismissed the lawsuit following the parties’ agreement.
On Nov. 15, 2011, Nam, through Thompson, requested the court to enforce their settlement agreement.
