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TDHC owners no longer have employees in the CNMI
4 workers who sued are off-island due to visa issues
The owners of the now-defunct Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino no longer have any employees in the CNMI and four of among the 500 foreign workers who are suing Tinian Dynasty over the denial of their CNMI-only Transitional Worker (CW-1) petitions are off-island due to ongoing visa issues.
Samuel Mok, counsel for the foreign workers, and Daniel T. Guidotti, counsel for Tinian Dynasty owners Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investments Ltd. and Mega Stars Overseas Limited, filed yesterday in federal court a stipulation to move discovery cutoff and status conference in this case.
Mok and Guidotti asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to continue the discovery cutoff in this case to Jan. 16, 2017, and the post-cut off status conference to Jan. 18, 2017.
Mok and Guidotti disclosed that HKE and Mega Stars have ongoing discovery issues as they no longer have any employees working in the CNMI and that water and power to Tinian Dynasty has been shut off.
The lawyers said HKE and Mega Stars believe that they have custody of many of the documents being requested by the workers and that the documents are located in the now-defunct Tinian Dynasty hotel.
Guidotti has scheduled an off-island deposition for Dec. 8, 2016.
Mok and Guidotti said plaintiffs were served with 15 sets of discovery requests a few weeks ago in which documents and responses are still being coordinated.
Mok and Guidotti said four of the plaintiffs are currently off-island due to ongoing visa issues that have hampered their ability to efficiently participate in the production of their discovery responses.
Plaintiffs were recently informed that many of the witnesses sought to be deposed no longer work for HKE and Mega Stars and require private investigation to locate them.
Mok said he will also be undergoing off-island medical surgery for his left eye on Dec. 19, 2016, which will require a recovery period of at least one week.
In their lawsuit, Eric Dona and co-plaintiffs alleged that the owners and management of Tinian Dynasty lied to them about their immigration legal status.
Mok alleged that the owners and management of Tinian Dynasty lied that they were legally authorized to work notwithstanding the denial of their CW-1 petitions.
