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Brown welcomes ruling in Malite case
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Posted on Apr 05 2005
Attorney general Pamela Brown said yesterday she was happy with the Superior Court’s decision denying the dismissal of the lawsuit she initiated against the Malite estate and the Marianas Public Lands Authority.
Brown said she agrees with Judge Juan T. Lizama’s ruling that her office could prosecute violations of Commonwealth law, and that the case should be tried on the merits.
The MPLA, its board members and commissioner, as well as Malite estate administrator Jesus Tudela, had asked the court to dismiss the suit by assailing Brown’s legitimacy as attorney general. They said that the suit should be dismissed because Brown has no standing to bring the matter to court.
Lizama denied the dismissal request, saying that Brown’s legitimacy is not relevant to the $3.45 million land compensation dispute. The judge said that the Attorney General’s Office could continue to function and institute civil and criminal cases regardless of questions to its head’s legitimacy.
Brown filed the suit to prevent the drawdown of the claim from the government’s land compensation fund. The MPLA has approved the Malite estate’s claim, which the AGO views as spurious.
Brown said she respects the judge’s suspicion that she supervised the AGO even before her Nov. 17, 2003 confirmation, but denied it.
The judge said that Brown’s possible assumption as acting attorney general before the Nov. 17 confirmation might impact on her legitimacy, but said that the matter should be dealt with in a separate proceeding.
