Malite estate asks court to relieve Brown of AG post

Malite estate attorney Pedro Atalig has asked the Superior Court to relieve Pamela Brown of her post as attorney general, arguing that the latter has been holding the position unlawfully.

Atalig made the request when it asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit initiated by Brown on behalf of the CNMI government to stop the payment of some $3.45 million in land compensation to the estate.

Atalig said Brown has no standing to file the lawsuit because she is “not a duly appointed and confirmed attorney general.”

He also contended that land compensation statutes give the Marianas Public Lands Authority and the Commonwealth Development Authority—not the AG’s office—the power to administer, settle or dispose eminent domain cases in the Northern Marianas.

Atalig, a former MPLA board member, explained that Public Law 13-25, which amended P.L. 13-17, specifically refers to the MPLA as the agency mandated to incur public debt of up to $40 million for financing of the retirement of land compensation claims against the CNMI for land taking by eminent domain.

He also asserted that P.L. 15-25 authorizes the MPLA and CDA—not the AGO—to administer the settlement and disposition of land compensation claims against the government.

“For the attorney general to question the intent and purposes of Public Law 15-25 is contrary and inconsistent with the basic responsibilities of the [AGO] to uphold and defend the NMI Constitution and Commonwealth laws,” Atalig said.

“Under the present statutes, the Office of the AG cannot substitute its decisions or judgments over the decisions of MPLA and CDA regarding land compensation cases,” he added.

Relatedly, the CDA has ceased to be a litigant in the lawsuit, after Brown’s attorneys voluntarily withdrew the complaint against the agency.

This followed Finance Secretary Fermin Atalig’s revocation of his authorization for the release of the land compensation claim and his instruction to the CDA not to release the monies to the Malite estate. The CDA heeded the secretary’s instruction.

Pedro Atalig also said the court should dismiss Brown’s lawsuit because her office failed to exhaust administrative remedies as required by the Administrative Procedures Act. The lawyer said the AGO did not appeal the decision of the MPLA board when the latter favored the request for a $3.45-million land compensation by Malite estate administrator Jesus Tudela on Aug. 14, 2004.

Brown filed the lawsuit after the MPLA, reportedly with the consent of the CDA, announced that they would go ahead with the release of the land compensation to the Malite estate on Dec. 6 despite her objections.

She questioned the amount of land compensation and its release, contending that the claim was spurious. The MPLA board approved the land compensation claim, a matter that was already decided by the Trust Territory court in 1978.

That court had determined the compensation for condemnation of a parcel of land, which now forms part of Saipan’s Marianas High School, in the amount of $3,682. The Commonwealth government obtained title to the land as a result of the condemnation. The Malite heirs, however, claimed that they did not receive any payment from the government for this.

The remaining defendants in the suit include the MPLA, its board members, commissioner Edward DeLeon Guerrero, and the estate’s administrator.

The MPLA defendants have also asked the court to dismiss the suit, citing, among other grounds, that Brown has no authority to bring the legal action in court.

Atalig, representing former Senate President Juan S. Demapan, had filed a separate lawsuit against Brown for the court to declare that she is holding the position of attorney general unlawfully. The lawyer said Brown has been unlawfully receiving government monies in the form of salary and expenses as attorney general.