Court grants NMC TRO vs. Zajradhara

The Superior Court has granted the Northern Marianas College’s request for a temporary restraining order against Zaji Zajradhara who is accused of harassment.

Last April 3, Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo granted the TRO requested by NMC on behalf of the Small Business Development Center against Zajradhara who is accused of harassing SBDC employees.

The TRO will remain in effect until April 18 as the court has scheduled a hearing on the matter for the same date.

Last April 1, NMC, through attorney Mark Scoggins, filed for a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction against Zajradhara for harassing SBDC employees since 2022.

Specifically, NMC wants the court to prohibit Zajradhara from communicating with the SBDC or its employees by any method and for any reason, and from coming within 500 yards of the SBDC or any of its events.

In addition, NMC is suing Zajradhara in Superior Court for undetermined damages to be proven at trial.

The reason NMC has taken legal action against Zajradhara, the lawsuit said, is because SBDC and its employees have suffered emotional injury due to his conduct, damage to their reputations, and have been forced to spend an inordinate amount of time and energy dealing with his abusive and harassing conduct.

According to the lawsuit, Scoggins explains that Zajradhara, for years, has tried to extract funds from entities by accusing them of discrimination.

“Zajradhara is an individual who, over the last 10 or 12 years, has tried to make a living by falsely accusing entities of discrimination or retaliation, and then extracting settlements. Zajradhara’s fraudulent practices have become so prolific and pernicious that in 2019 the CNMI House of Representatives passed a House Resolution (H.R. 21-5) declaring Mr. Zajradhara ‘persona non grata’ due to his ‘ill-intended schemes in extracting funds from various businesses,” Scoggins said.

Then, in 2022, he targeted SBDC, an entity under NMC.

The lawsuit argues that Zajradhara claimed to be the owner of one or more small businesses and began demanding that the SBDC provide services to him.

However, when the SBDC tried to inform Zajradhara that they could not provide the services he was demanding, he allegedly became abusive with the employees, sometimes yelling and behaving in a threatening manner, falsely accusing them of discrimination and illegal activity.

Meanwhile, last April 9, Zajradhara filed a complaint against NMC with the federal court and sought relief in the form of $100 million.

According to Zajradhara’s suit, he alleges violation of his civil rights, denied access to federally funded programs, public humiliation, mental anguish, pain and suffering, false allegations/slander, attempted false arrest, extortionist threats, and retaliation.

“Since 2018-2019, NMC-SBDC has denied me access to education opportunities and access to federally funded programs and service. These denials have caused me financial, emotional, mental, and physical suffering and hardship not only to myself, but my business and my children,” he claims.

The court has yet to rule on whether Zajradhara may proceed with his suit in forma pauperis, without a fee.