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FHB wants lawsuit moved to federal court
Faced with a lawsuit that questions its decision to freeze the bank account of a private company, First Hawaiian Bank has asked that the lawsuit be transferred from the CNMI Superior Court to the federal court.
First Hawaiian Bank, through counsel Richard L. Johnson, asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to accept the notice of removal of the lawsuit filed by Universal Group Development Inc. (Saipan).
Johnson told the court that he has spoken with attorney Mark Scoggins, counsel for Wanzhong Yu, and that Scoggins advised him that Yu consents to the removal of the lawsuit to the district court.
Yu is Universal Group’s former president and shareholder and a co-defendant in the lawsuit.
Johnson said Universal Group filed the lawsuit in Superior Court last Dec. 30 and that First Hawaiian was served with the summons and complaint last Jan. 6.
Universal Group, through counsel Samuel Mok, is suing its former president and shareholder, Yu, for conversion and the First Hawaiian Bank for breach of contract.
Mok alleged in the complaint that Yu and First Hawaiian Bank caused Universal Group to be unable to access $225,000 of its own funds from a business savings account.
Mok asked the court to declare the company as the lawful owner of the funds contained in the business savings account. He also asked the court to order the bank to allow the company immediate access to the account.
Mok also disclosed that Yu was arrested in China when he traveled to that country in 2013 for embezzlement and theft, among other charges.
Universal Group operates the Hailan Market and Oriental Dumping Restaurant on Saipan.
