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BankPacific sues SBA over Rota land
BankPacific Ltd. is suing the Small Business Administration in federal court over a disputed mortgaged land in Sinapalo, Rota.
BankPacific, through lawyer Michael A. White, wants the U.S. District Court for the NMI to declare that the SBA has no right to the lot.
According to the complaint, couple Matthew A. and Rita M. Ooka executed a mortgage on Oct. 3, 1995, in favor of the Northern Marianas Housing Corp.
White said the Ooka couple mortgaged the property in Sinapalo II, Rota.
On Oct. 27, 1997, NMHC assigned the mortgage to BankPacific.
On May 1, 2003, the Ookas executed a second mortgage of the same lot in favor of SBA.
White said the May 1, 2003, mortgage to SBA was recorded approximately seven and a half years after the Oct. 3, 1995, mortgage in favor of NMHC that was later assigned to BankPacific.
Accordingly, the lawyer said, the mortgage to SBA is subordinate to the mortgage held by BankPacific.
In December 2003, BankPacific filed a lawsuit against the Ookas to foreclose on the property.
In July 2014, the Superior Court entered a judgment, foreclosing upon the lot and ordering that it be sold.
White said that pursuant to the CNMI Real Estate Mortgage Law, the lot was sold, and the sale was approved by the Superior Court.
A quitclaim deed was issued to BankPacific on March 7, 2016.
White said the foreclosure of BanPacific’s mortgage on the lot, and the subsequent sale of that property, “extinguished any and all rights of SBA in and to the property.”
