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Suit vs ex-Tinian mayor, Tribune dismissed
The Superior Court dismissed yesterday the defamation lawsuit filed by Ramon Quichocho against former Tinian mayor Ramon M. Dela Cruz and the Saipan Tribune.
Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho dismissed with prejudice Quichocho’s lawsuit after the latter failed to appear at the hearing on a motion to dismiss the case for lack of prosecution.
Dismissed with prejudice means Quichocho can no longer re-file the case against Dela Cruz, Saipan Tribune, its editor Jayvee L. Vallejera, and its former reporter Moneth Deposa.
Attorney Stephen P. Pixley appeared as counsel for Pacific Publications and Printing Inc., which owns Saipan Tribune, Vallejera, and Deposa. Assistant attorney general Charles Brasington appeared on behalf of Dela Cruz.
Pixley filed the motion to dismiss the case last September. Brasington joined the motion.
Last Dec. 14, former Saipan Municipal Council member Felipe Q. Atalig, and the defendants filed a stipulation to dismiss the case with prejudice. Atalig is Quichocho’s co-plaintiff in the case. Camacho granted the motion that same day.
Atalig and the defendants indicated that they have settled their differences without the exchange of an amount.
Camacho then set a hearing on the motion to dismiss with respect to Quichocho’s claims, as that the parties’ stipulation does not include Quichocho.
According to the stipulation, no amount is being paid for the dismissal; instead, the parties have determined that it is in all parties’ and the court’s best interest for the matter to end now.
Quichocho and Atalig filed the lawsuit in 2011. It stemmed from Dela Cruz’s statement that was written by Deposa and published by the Saipan Tribune on Jan. 28, 2011.
