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XTRA Airways, officials settle former manager’s suit
The Florida-based XTRA Airways Inc. and its officials have settled a lawsuit filed against them by its former manager for the airline’s Asian operations from the Saipan office for allegedly terminating him without cause a few months after he was hired in 2017.
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona granted the parties’ request last Nov. 8 to give them 30 days to finalize their settlement and then voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit.
Manglona gave the parties until Dec. 10 to do so.
The judge vacated the case management conference set for last Thursday, Nov. 15.
Manglona said in light of Thomas L. Nolte’s notice of voluntary dismissal of his second cause of action, the motion to dismiss filed by defendant TEM Enterprises, which owns Xtra Airways is moot.
Last Nov. 8, Nolte and TEM Enterprises, through their lawyers, told the court that they have reached a settlement on all issues, including attorney’s fees and costs.
Colin Thompson is counsel for Nolte, while lawyer Robert Turk is counsel for TEM Enterprises.
In the original complaint, Nolte sued XTRA Airways and five unnamed co-defendants for breach of written and oral contracts, and fraud. He demanded lost wages, damages, attorney’s fees, and court costs.
In his amended complaint, Nolte sued Tem Enterprises, which owns XTRA Airways, XTRA’s chief operations officer Andrew D. Lotter, and XTRA chief executive officer Frank J. Visconti for fraud, and only against XTRA for breach of contract.
Nolte asked the court to hold the defendants liable to compensate him for lost earnings, damages, and court costs. He demanded a jury trial.
XTRA Airways flights from China to Saipan were cancelled starting Nov. 10, 2017, three months after it opened flights from Nanjing to Saipan.
Thompson alleged in the complaint that XTRA’s true goal in hiring Nolte was to provide a short-term boost to XTRA’s net value by demonstrating to prospective buyers that XTRA had an existing China-Saipan route and a manager (Nolte) to operate the route.
