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‘Court lacks jurisdiction over Yamamoto’s claims’
Lt. Gov. Victor Hocog asserts that the federal court lacks jurisdiction over the claims raised by Japanese investor Takahisa Yamamoto because the latter failed to verify his amended complaint.
In Hocog’s reply to Yamamoto’s opposition to his motion to dismiss the lawsuit, attorney Jeffrey A. Moots said Yamamoto acknowledges that his first complaint was not verified as required by the Supplemental Rules for Admiralty or Maritime Claims and Asset Forfeiture Actions.
Moots argued that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has held that failing to verify a complaint filed pursuant to the Supplemental Rules for Admiralty deprives the court of jurisdiction.
Moots said if the failure to verify the first amended complaint’s admiralty claims deprives the court of jurisdiction as the Ninth Circuit held, then the U.S. District Court for the NMI would lack jurisdiction over the remaining non-federal claims brought by Yamamoto.
Yamamoto is suing Hocog and the owners/operators of Luta Mermaid LLC, which owns the cargo ship M/V Luta, for allegedly refusing to pay back the $3.4 million that he put up for the vessel.
