Previous Story
High court affirms dismissal of review petition
On March 23, 2017, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Su Yue Min et al. v. Feng Hua Enter. et al. The high court affirmed the trial court’s order dismissing petition for judicial review for failure to prosecute and sanctioned Feng Hua Enterprise Inc., Li Jian De and Wu Yan Ming.
In 2008, Su Yue Min, Wu Yi Pan, Huang Shi Zhong, Li Dan Yun, Xiao Xue Ming, and Guo Li Ying filed a labor complaint against Feng Hua. The administrative hearing officer issued an order awarding Su $134,096.80, and the Labor secretary affirmed the order. Feng Hua filed a petition with the trial court for judicial review of the order but failed to take any affirmative action to move the case forward for three years. The trial court dismissed the petition for failure to prosecute.
Feng Hua appealed the trial court’s ruling with the Supreme Court, arguing that the trial court erred. On review, the high court found that Feng Hua violated seven NMI Supreme Court Rules and failed to properly argue their case. Accordingly, the Supreme Court held the appeal was frivolous.
Additionally, the high court stated, “Even if we were to set aside Feng Hua’s egregious violations of the appellate rules, the appeal still warrants dismissal.”
In reaching this conclusion, the high court held that it gives deference to the trial court’s finding that Feng Hua’s three-year delay harmed Su. Because the appeal was meritless, the high court sanctioned Feng Hua and their counsel.
The high court’s full opinion is available at http://www.cnmilaw.org/supreme17.html. (NMI Judiciary)
