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District Court dismisses ex-Palms Resort employee’s discrimination lawsuit
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Posted on Jan 09 2012
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter
Reporter
The federal court has dismissed the discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee of the Palms Resort Saipan against the hotel’s owner.
U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge J. Michael Seabright dismissed with prejudice Jane Quitugua’s lawsuit based upon the parties’ agreement.
Attorney Michael W. Dotts, counsel for Palms Resort Saipan owner Micronesian Resort Inc., and attorney Stephen Woodruff, counsel for plaintiff Jane Quitugua, recently informed the district court about their full settlement.
The parties asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, saying their settlement does not require the court’s continued jurisdiction.
Dotts and Woodruff requested that once a new judge is designated to preside over this case that the new judge immediately enter the dismissal of this case.
The lawyers said they agreed that each of the parties shall bear their own attorneys fees and court costs.
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona recused from the case.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski on Dec. 29 designated Seabright, District Judge for the District of Hawaii, to preside over the case.
Quitugua filed the lawsuit in May 2010. She accused Palms Resort of “terminating her employment in an unlawful, discriminatory manner on a pretext of implementing organizational and staffing charges.”
Quitugua began working for the hotel as a front office supervisor in 1998 and was later promoted to senior assistant front office manager in 2007. She held on to that position until her termination in January 2009.
Palms Resort’s management had asserted that Quitugua’s termination was simply necessitated by business restructuring.
