Atalig fails to file appeal brief

The Attorney General’s Office yesterday asked the CNMI Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal filed by defeated Rota mayoral candidate Vicente Manglona Atalig after he failed to beat the deadline for filing his appeal briefing.

Assistant attorneys general Arin Greenwood and James D. Livingstone, on behalf of the Commonwealth Election Commission and its commissioners, also asked the high tribunal to impose monetary or disciplinary sanctions on Atalig for failure to prosecute the appeal.

Attorney Stephen C. Woodruff, counsel for Atalig, in a note written on Dec. 30, explained that he would not be able to file the pleadings because of an emergency family matter.

Greenwood and Livingstone said Atalig’s brief was initially due on Dec. 27, 2005.

The appellant moved for additional time in which to file, citing his “diligent” prosecution of the appeal and representing to the court that the additional time was necessary in order to prepare the record, they said.

CEC and its commissioners, the government lawyers said, extended professional courtesy to the appellant and did not oppose the motion.

Justice Pro Tem Juan T. Lizama granted Atalig until 3pm on Dec. 30, 2005, to file his brief, but did not grant the appellees any additional time in which to respond to Atalig’s brief.

Livingstone and Greenwood said they recognized the need for the appeal to be disposed of quickly and did not ask the court to reconsider its decision not to extend the time for them to respond.

The government lawyers said Atalig failed to file his brief, or any motion requesting additional time in which to file his brief by Dec. 30 at 3pm.

They said that after 3pm on Dec. 30, Woodruff’s son left a handwritten note with Perry Inos, attorney for Rota mayor-elect Joseph S. Inos, stating that he did not file his brief because of a family matter that occurred on the morning of Dec. 30.

The government lawyers said Woodruff also wrote on this note: “I will fax a copy of the unfinished brief to you and Arin later today. Appellees must be given more time to respond. I will late file with a motion.”

Livingstone and Greenwood said Atalig’s attorney did not submit a copy of this note to the other appellees and that CEC and its commissioners received the note only because attorney Inos faxed it to their attorneys.

The government lawyers said the appeal should be dismissed with prejudice in its entirety and that the court should impose disciplinary or monetary sanctions on Atalig for his “egregious failure to prosecute this appeal, and for his lack of courtesy to the court and to the appellees.”

Atalig filed the lawsuit to compel the counting of 72 unopened ballot envelopes. He sued CEC, its commissioners and Joseph Inos.

Atalig, of the Republican Party, got 11 more votes than Inos, of the Covenant Party.

Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo ruled from the bench dismissing Atalig’s lawsuit on Dec. 16, 2005.

Govendo agreed with the defendants that Atalig’s claim should be time-barred because the complaint was filed outside the seven-day time limit set forth in the statute. Atalig appealed.