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Norton Lilly, ship’s crew agree to drop claims vs M/V Luta owners
A company and the crew of cargo ship M/V Luta have agreed to drop their claims against the vessels owners.
Lawyers Bruce Berline, David G. Banes, and William M. Fitzgerald filed in federal court a separate stipulation for dismissal with prejudice of the parties’ claims against the owners of M/V Luta.
Berline is counsel for Norton Lilly International Inc., while Banes is counsel for the vessel’s captain Michael Brochon and six other crewmembers. Fitzgerald is representing the ship’s owners Luta Mermaid LLC, its president Abelina T. Mendiola, and members Deron T. Mendiola, and Fidel S. Mendiola III.
The lawyers requested the U.S. District Court for the NMI to dismiss the claims in its entirety.
Dismissal with prejudice means the claimants cannot re-open their case again.
As this developed, the ship’s owners, through Fitzgerald, asked for a jury trial in Japanese investor Takahisa Yamamoto’s lawsuit against them.
Yamamoto is suing Lt. Gov. Victor B. Hocog, Luta Mermaid LLC, and the Mendiolas for allegedly refusing to pay back the $3.4 million that he put up for the vessel. The vessel was seized shortly after the U.S. Marshal Service arrested the ship last Oct. 25.
The ship’s captain and crewmembers, along with Norton Lilly International, later intervened in Yamamoto’s lawsuit.
The captain and the crew demanded payment of $183,648 in unpaid wages, while Norton Lilly sought payment for $131,801 in unpaid services.
Last Feb. 22, the court ordered the immediate release of the ship to Luta Mermaid LLC and the Mendiolas after Yamamoto reached a settlement deal with the vessel’s custodian.
The court earlier determined that Yamamoto’s relationship with the Mendiolas demonstrated that he was a joint venturer in M/V Luta.
Yamamoto’s several other claims in the lawsuit are pending in court.
Fitzgerald previously disclosed that the owners of M/V Luta have reached a settlement agreement that requires them to pay over $600,000 to the three group of intervenors—the captain and six crew members, Long Consulting, and Norton Lilly.
MD: A company and the crew of cargo ship M/V Luta have agreed to drop their claims against the vessels owners.
