Malite estate asks court to sanction Brown, attorneys

Lawyers of the Malite estate have asked the Superior Court to impose sanctions on attorney general Pamela Brown and her attorneys for withdrawing a request for preliminary injunction right on the day that it was scheduled for a hearing.

In an interview, one of the lawyers, Antonio Atalig, said Brown and his attorneys—Benjamin Sachs, Jeanne Rayphand, and Deborah Covington—should be held responsible for fees and costs the defendants incurred over the last-minute withdrawal of the injunction request last Dec. 23.

Several government officials, including Gov. Juan N. Babauta, appeared at the courtroom of Judge Juan T. Lizama on that day pursuant to subpoenas issued them by the court. The subpoenaed officials would have been called to the witness stand had the injunction request hearing pushed through.

“They [Brown’s lawyers] should have withdrawn the motion for preliminary injunction when they filed the motion to quash the subpoenas,” Atalig said.

Assistant attorneys general James Stump and Kenneth Barden, on behalf of Finance Secretary Fermin Atalig, filed with the court a request to quash the subpoena on the official a day before the scheduled injunction hearing where the secretary was being compelled to appear.

The secretary and Babauta, in separate filings, made quash requests on identical grounds, citing, among others, that their court appearances would unduly interfere with their official duties.

The estate’s lawyers submitted a written request for the imposition of sanctions against Brown and her attorneys Tuesday as directed by the court. The document was unavailable for inspection in court yesterday.

Antonio Atalig said the estate would file a supplemental document to the sanction request possibly today.

Lawyers for the Marianas Public Lands Authority, its board of directors and commissioner are expected to file similar pleadings, as they joined in the request for the imposition of sanctions during the Dec. 23 proceeding. As of yesterday, however, no written document was submitted in court.

Brown had filed the lawsuit on behalf of the CNMI government, citing a “strong appearance of ethical impropriety and conflicts of interest,” in the MPLA’s approval of the $3.45 million land compensation claim by the Malite estate, a matter that had been decided by the Trust Territory court in 1978.

In that order, the TT court awarded some $3,682 to the estate for condemnation of some 6,900-sqm lot that now forms part of Saipan’s Marianas High School. The estate claimed that it has not received any payment from the government.

Defendants in the suit include the MPLA, its board members, commissioner Edward DeLeon Guerrero, and Malite estate administrator Jesus Tudela. The court dismissed the complaint against defendant Commonwealth Development Authority after the voluntary withdrawal by Brown’s attorneys.