Landowner prevails, will get $1.1M land payment

The Superior Court has ordered the Commonwealth Development Authority to proceed with the disbursement of a requisition authorizing payment of $1,166,403 in land compensation to a landowner.

Associate Judge David A. Wiseman ordered the release of the funds to Victoria San Nicholas in his ruling that granted the landowner’s motion for summary judgment.

“Nicholas has met her burden to show that she is entitled to compensation for her land, pursuant to the Land Compensation Act as a matter of law,” said the judge in his order issued Friday.

In addressing the merits of the case, Wiseman said it is settled that San Nicholas was the fee simple owner of a tract of land that was designated as a wetland by the CNMI on Nov. 16, 1997.

“Because wetlands are indeed compensable under the Land Compensation Act as amended by P.L. 14-29, Miss Nicholas has demonstrated that she is entitled to compensation from the Marianas Public Lands Authority out of those funds allotted by the Land Compensation Act to reimburse private landowners for public takings as a matter of law,” he said.

In August 2005, then Attorney General Pamela Brown filed a lawsuit to block MPLA from disbursing a total of $1.3 million in land compensation to wetland owners San Nicholas and Rosario DLG. Kumagai.

Brown, acting on behalf of the CNMI government, sued MPLA and the landowners. She asked the court to enjoin the defendants and their attorneys or agents from drawing down and disbursing $1,166,403.14 to San Nicholas and $159,496.43 to Kumagai.

Brown asked the court to declare that wetlands that are not used for right-of-way purposes cannot be compensated using land compensation funds.

Assistant attorney general James D. Livingstone, counsel for Brown, stated in the complaint that San Nicholas and Kumagai owned lots on Saipan that have been declared 100 percent wetland property.

Gov. Juan N. Babauta had certified on April 21, 2005, that the Commonwealth took San Nicholas’ lot in 1993 for the purpose of protecting wetlands and endangered species.

In the case of Kumagai’s lot, then Gov. Lorenzo I. Deleon Guerrero had certified on Nov. 16, 1993, that the Commonwealth took her lot for the purpose of protecting wetlands.

Neither property was certified as being taken for right-of-way purposes or related to any right-of-way the Commonwealth needed to secure, Livingstone said.

Under the law, MPLA is supposed to determine the compensation due to landowners who are then compensated for the taking. Public Law 13-17 and 14-29 set forth the properties that can be compensated using Land Compensation Act funds. MPLA authorized payment using Land Compensation Funds of $1.1 million to Nicholas and $159,496 to Kumagai on April 28, 2005 and May 5, 2005 respectively.

Livingstone argued, though, that Land Compensation Funds cannot be used to compensate the landowners for properties taken unrelated to right-of-ways.

San Nicholas, through counsel Edward Manibusan, filed a motion for summary judgment.

In his order, Wiseman said a court may grant summary judgment when there are no issues as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

Here, Wiseman said, the facts are undisputed by either party and consequently the matter is ripe for summary judgment.

Essentially, the judge noted, the single issue in dispute involves varying interpretations of the Land Compensation Act as amended by P.L. 14-29.

The amendment in effect determines whether MPLA had the authority to disburse funds to San Nicholas to compensate her for the November 1993 taking of her property for wetland purposes, Wiseman said.

Wiseman said the government, in its complaint and subsequent filings, claims that P.L. 13-27, as amended by P.L. 14-29, limits disbursement of MPLA funds to compensate only CNMI acquisitions of private land for right-of-way purposes.

He said the government asserted that because San Nicholas’ land was taken only for the purpose of preserving it as a wetland, MPLA is not authorized to compensate her using funds appropriated by P.L. 13-27 as amended by P.L. 12-29.

By contrast, San Nicholas argued that the Act, as amended by P.L. 14-29, authorizes the MPLA to compensate landowners for private land taken by the CNMI for the sole reason of preserving wetlands, and consequently, she is entitled to the benefit of the settlement agreement entered into between San Nicholas and the MPLA.

Wiseman said a broader interpretation of “right-of-way” as a government use of private land for public purpose conforms more effortlessly with the Land Compensation Act’s stated purpose: to generally compensate the takings of private lands for public purposes.

Further, he said, such an interpretation is supported by the plain language of P.L. 14-27, which includes in its definition of “right of ways”, wetland and other claims involving private land acquisition permitted by applicable law.”

In September 2005, Wiseman dismissed Brown’s lawsuit against Kumagai and ordered to proceed with the disbursement of a requisition authorizing payment of $159,408 in land compensation to her.