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Trial starts in Sen. Manglona’s lawsuit against his two siblings
The bench trial in the lawsuit filed by Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) against his siblings over a piece of land on Upper Capital Hill started yesterday in the Superior Court.
When Saipan Tribune left the courtroom in the afternoon, attorney Samuel Mok was still cross-examining Paul Manglona’s second witness, Charles A. Manglona.
Mok is counsel for defendants Priscilla M. Torres and Thomas A. Manglona.
Torres and Thomas Manglona are co-administrators of the estate of their late mother, Bernadita A. Manglona.
Torres, Thomas Manglona, and Charles Manglona, along with Associate Justice John A. Manglona, are among the senator’s siblings named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Before Charles Manglona testified, attorney Mark Scoggins, counsel for Paul Manglona, called to the witness stand Prudencio A. Manglona, another sibling named as one of the defendants.
Charles Manglona testified, among other things, that he recognized the signatures in a deed of gift as those of his mother and of Paul Manglona. Charles Manglona, however, said he did not see his mother herself sign the deed of gift.
Judge pro tem David A. Wiseman, who is presiding over the trial, earlier stated that the entire case centers on the genuineness and validity of the deeds of gift in question.
Sen. Paul Manglona is suing his siblings over the disputed 4,181-square-meter property on Upper Capital Hill.
The senator asked the court to declare him the fee simple owner of the property by virtue of a deed of gift on July 11, 1985, and that none of the defendants have any rights to do it.
In their answer to the lawsuit, Torres and Thomas Manglona, through counsel, asserted that their brother, Sen. Manglona, does not inherit entirely the disputed land as their mother’s signature had been forged.
