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Survivors, Star Marianas, others ask for more time to finalize settlement
The parties in a lawsuit filed by two survivors of a fatal plane crash on Tinian in 2013, have asked the federal court to give them more time to finalize a settlement agreement.
Two survivors of a fatal plane crash in 2013 on Tinian are currently finalizing their settlement with Star Marianas Air Inc. and others that they sued over the accident.
John K. Courtney, counsel for survivors Pengliang Cai and Lei Wang, and Timothy H. Bellas, counsel for Star Marianas Air and co-defendants, have informed the U.S. District Court for the NMI that they have been working on a settlement.
The lawyers said they anticipate that with additional time all parties will be able to reach an agreeable final settlement.
They requested the court to cancel yesterday’s order to show-cause hearing and instead set it after 90 days.
The show-cause hearing has been reset several times at of the parties’ request.
In a previous order to show cause, U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona said more than 90 days have passed since the complaint was filed on Oct. 2, 2015. Manglona asked the parties why this matter should not be dismissed.
Zhang, a Chinese national, was killed in the crash on Oct. 6, 2013, on Tinian. Cai, who is the husband of Zhang, survived, along with another passenger, Lei Wang.
Cai and Wang are suing Star Marianas Air and its then-operator, Tinian Transportation Management Solutions Inc., travel agency Top Development Inc., and the deceased pilot, Luis Silva.
