‘Slaughterhouse operator owes 9-year rental, abandoned bldg.’

The Department of Lands and Natural Resources is suing a company that used to operate the As Perdido Slaughterhouse for allegedly not paying rent for nine years and then abandoning the premises.

DLNR, through the Attorney General’s Office, sued the reportedly bankrupt Seishin Farm Saipan Inc. for breach of lease agreement. DLNR demanded damages, attorney’s fees, and court costs.

DLNR entered into a slaughterhouse management lease agreement with Seishin Farm in February 1999 for the 1,542 square meters property located in As Perdido.

Under the 15-year lease agreement, Seishin was given rights to the slaughterhouse and all machinery that came with the building.

Assistant attorney general Meaghan Hassel-Shearer stated in the complaint that, after signing the lease agreement, Seishin made an initial prorated rent payment of $10,000 on March 1, 1999. This was the only rent payment that Seishin ever made, Hassel-Shearer said, failing to make rent payments from 2000 to 2008.

The government lawyer said the defendant also failed to submit annual financial statements for the periods beginning 2001 to 2007.

After obtaining the lease agreement, Seishin never procured liability insurance as required by the agreement.

Hassel-Shearer said that on Nov. 29, 2006, Dr. Ronald K. Jones of the U.S. Department of Agriculture wrote to Tadashi Naruze of Seishin, saying Seishin must respond within 10 days about the company’s intention regarding the slaughterhouse’s operations requiring federal inspection services.

Furthermore, the letter stated that “there is no evidence of operations at [Seishin’s] location.”

In January 2007, USDA filed a notice titled “Voluntary Suspension or Voluntary Withdrawal of Inspection Service.”

Hassel-Shearer said the note stated that “authority to use labels bearing the Department’s inspection mark are hereby suspended.”

After receiving this letter, the lawyer said, Seishin effectively abandoned the property.

In October 2007, DLNR Secretary Dr. Ignacio T. Dela Cruz wrote Seishin’s vice president Mitsugi Takagi to outline the numerous provisions of the agreement that the company had defaulted on.

Dela Cruz further explained that a provision of the agreement provides remedy of termination of the lease should the company remains in default.

Hassel-Shearer said Seishin failed to respond to the letter.

The AGO requested for meetings to discuss terminating the lease agreement, but all letters were returned to AGO as they were not collected.

Deeming the premises to be abandoned, DLNR entered the As Perdido premises in February 2008.

Hassel-Shearer said DLNR discovered among other things that the freezer room no longer worked; the equipment that was leased to Seishin was rusted out; the fenced lot needed to be repaired; and numerous other restorations needed to be completed.