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Investor asks district court to amend dismissal order
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Posted on Jan 22 2012
An investor has moved the district court to amend the dismissal order in his lawsuit against attorney Ramon K. Quichocho and landowner Joaquin Q. Atalig.
Sin Ho Nam, through counsel Colin M. Thompson, said the amendment is needed so that the U.S. District Court for the NMI can enforce the settlement agreement he entered with Quichocho and Atalig.
Thompson requested the court to include in the amended order the following language: “The Court retains jurisdiction to enforce the Settlement Agreement between the parties.”
Thompson said there exists sufficient basis under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to amend the court’s dismissal order issued on Oct. 18, 2011.
Thompson cited that the parties agreed that the court shall retain jurisdiction to enforcement the settlement agreement, and that the court intended to retain jurisdiction to enforce the settlement agreement.
On Dec. 27, 2011, U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona issued an order denying for lack of jurisdiction Nam’s motion to enforce the settlement agreement.
Manglona said a court has jurisdiction to enforce a settlement agreement only if it expressly retained such jurisdiction or otherwise embodied the settlement contract in the dismissal order.
Nam sued Quichocho and Atalig for breaching a land lease agreement when they terminated a 55-year lease less than two years later despite having already paid $218,000.
U.S. District Court for the NMI visiting judge Mark W. Bennett found Quichocho and Atalig liable to Nam for breach of contract.
Bennett in his order stated that Nam’s remedies or question of damages and the entirety of his claim for breach of fiduciary duty against Quichocho will proceed to trial.
On Sept. 12, 2011, Thompson and attorney Michael Dotts, counsel for Nam and Quichocho respectively, moved to dismiss all claims and counterclaims after they reached a settlement.
The terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed.
On Oct. 18, 2011, Manglona dismissed the lawsuit following the parties’ agreement.
On Nov. 15, 2011, Nam, through Thompson, requested the court to enforce their settlement agreement.
