Judge denies bid to stop govt from issuing casino license

Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman denied yesterday casino applicant Marianas Stars Entertainment Inc.’s motion for a preliminary injunction that seeks to stop Gov. Eloy S. Inos, the CNMI government, and co-defendants from issuing a casino license unless and until all aspects of the casino law are first complied with, such as the Casino Commission’s required involvement in the applicant investigation and the issuance of regulations.

While he acknowledges and agrees with Marianas Stars that there is a general public interest in enjoining potentially illegal licenses to applicants in the CNMI’s casino venture, Wiseman said he finds that the public interest will better be served by refusing to stop the licensing and investigation process and addressing  Marianas Stars’ legal arguments at a later stage of the case—likely after a casino license has been issued or the Casino Commission has been confirmed and a new application procedure has been instituted.

The judge agreed with Inos and co-defendants that permitting the application process to continue will allow the CNMI to properly assess whether any of the applicants meet all of the necessary criteria.

Wiseman agreed with the defendants that if neither meets those criteria within the 90-day period provided by the Legislature, the newly formed Casino Commission may institute a new process for the investigation, issue a new request for proposal to attract new applicants, and decide to whom they wish to issue the sole casino license.

Inos’ co-defendants in the case are the CNMI government, the Lottery Commission, and the Finance secretary.

The denial of the preliminary injunction superseded Wiseman’s June 9 temporary restraining order that stopped Inos, the CNMI government, the Lottery Commission, and the Finance secretary from either denying or approving a casino license. Wiseman issued the TRO after Marianas Stars filed the lawsuit and asked for a TRO.

Marianas Stars’ lawsuit remains pending in court.

In their motion for preliminary injunction, Marianas Stars counsel Sean Frink argued, among other things, that an injunction will preserve the status quo, leaving the $30 million that the company and the other casino license applicant, Best Sunshine Ltd., deposited in escrow pending the eventual “lawful” issuance of a casino license.

Inos and his co-defendants opposed the motion. They, through assistant attorney general Reena Patel, argued that there is no serious questions on the merits because the Lottery Commission is a necessary and integral part of the investigation of casino license applicants.

In denying the motion, Wiseman said in the event any license issued by the Lottery Commission is found illegal and invalid, any monetary injury suffered by Marianas Stars may be compensated in the form of compensatory damages as part of the ultimate disposition of the case, and thus no preliminary injunction is necessary at this point based upon some speculative irreparable harm to Marianas Stars.

On the issue of likelihood of success on the merits, Wiseman found that Marianas Stars has not demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits of its case.

On potential hardships issue, the judge noted that while he acknowledges Marianas Stars’ arguments regarding the injury they believe would befall them if he finds the ultimate and inevitable license issuance to be illegal, he still refuses to indicate his position on these issues by preserving the status quo and preventing what may be a beneficial process and end result to the CNMI.

Marianas Stars Entertainment and Best Sunshine International are both seeking an exclusive Saipan casino resort developer license. Each had already submitted a $1 million nonrefundable application fee, a completed application, a business plan, and a $30 million refundable deposit.