Airline motion to junk suit denied

The federal court has denied Florida-based XTRA Airways Inc.’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by its former manager for the airline’s Asian operations.

In denying XTRA Airways’ motion to dismiss, U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona found the motion moot since Thomas L. Nolte had already amended his complaint. She did not elaborate.

In his original complaint, Nolte, through counsel Colin M. Thompson, sued XTRA Airways Inc. and five others for allegedly terminating him without cause a few months after hiring him in 2017. He sued for breach of written and oral contracts and fraud. He asked the court to hold the defendants liable for lost wages, damages, attorney’s fees, and court costs.

In his amended complaint, Nolte is suing Tem Enterprises, which owns XTRA Airways, XTRA’s chief operations officer Andrew D. Lotter and XTRA chief executive officer Frank J. Visconti for fraud. He is also suing XTRA for breach of contract.

Nolte is demanding compensation for lost earnings, damages, and court costs. He demanded a jury trial.

XTRA Airways flights from China to Saipan were cancelled starting Nov. 10, 2017, three months after it opened flights from Nanjing to Saipan.

Nolte, at that time XTRA Airways’ Pacific Operations manager, told Saipan Tribune that their China service is suspended indefinitely due to contractual issues with their Chinese client, Dream Pacific Aviation Services HK Ltd.

XTRA Airways entered the airline market in China and Saipan in early 2017.

Thompson said that, in April 2017, Brian Dagget, XTRA Airways vice president for international markets, contacted Nolte to offer him a management position on Saipan. At that time, Nolte was living and working in Colorado.

Thompson said Dagget and Nolte knew each other because they had worked together at two previous companies.

At the time, Nolte was 67 years old and had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

After a couple of phone interviews with Dagget and other XTRA Airways executives, Nolte was invited to the company headquarters in Coral Gables, Florida to meet with Lotter and Visconti, Thompson said.

After meeting with the principals of XTRA Airways in Florida on April 26, 2017, Nolte was told that they wanted him to manage the airline’s Asian operations from the Saipan office, explaining that they established routes from China in response to growing Chinese tourism in the area. Three days later, Nolte accepted the offer and agreed to relocate to Saipan. On June 9, 2017, Nolte moved from Boulder, Colorado to Saipan.

Thompson said that, last Dec. 1, XTRA notified Nolte that he would be removed as manager effective Nov. 27, 2017.

Thompson said XTRA Airways had lied to Nolte about its ability to fly between the CNMI and China legally so that it could retain him. “In fact…XTRA Airways could not legally operate flights between China and the CNMI at the time Mr. Nolte first arrived on Saipan,” the lawyer said.

XTRA’s true goal in hiring Nolte, he said, was to provide a short-term boost to XTRA’s net value by demonstrating to prospective buyers that XTRA had an existing China-Saipan route and a manager (Nolte) to operate the route.