The Superior Court has denied JG Sablan Rock Quarry Inc.\u2019s motion to remove portions of the arguments filed by the Department of Public Lands in connection with their dispute over the permit to mine pozzolan.<\/p>\n
Associate Judge David A. Wiseman ruled that motions to strike are disfavored because they are generally a waste of time and a distraction rather than a genuine perfecting device.<\/p>\n
Wiseman said that, if JG Sablan desires to allege that portions of DPL\u2019s brief are false, it may do so without filing a separate motion to strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe court, although bound to read all timely and properly filed submissions to it, is also free to investigate the record itself to determine whether the facts either party asserts are true,\u201d the judge pointed out.<\/p>\n
Consequently, Wiseman said, the danger of prejudice to a party due to another party\u2019s misrepresentation of facts is lessened by the court\u2019s ability to determine the truth of the matter through its own investigation of the record proper.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnlike a jury, the chance of confusion leading to unfair prejudice is low,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
The government had brought a court action against JG Sablan, asking the court to declare as unconstitutional Public Law 15-21, the law that reinstated JG Sablan\u2019s permit to mine pozzolan from Pagan Island.<\/p>\n
JG Sablan filed a counter lawsuit against DPL. DPL then filed a motion for summary judgment on a portion of JG Sablan\u2019s complaint.<\/p>\n
The complaint alleged that DPL failed to provide JG Sablan due process\u2014as provided under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution\u2014before terminating JG Sablan\u2019s mining permit. <\/p>\n
In support of its motion for partial summary judgment, DPL argued that it had complied with the APA by providing JG Sablan with a notice of termination with an explanation and provided time in which JG Sablan could demonstrate compliance with the permit.<\/p>\n
DPL also argued that notwithstanding its compliance with the APA, JG Sablan had contractually waived any further due process protections by amending the permit itself.<\/p>\n
In its opposition JG Sablan moved to strike several portions of DPL\u2019s memorandum on the grounds that arguments contained in the memorandum were not properly part of the \u201crecord\u201d available for review by the court; and that DPL\u2019s memorandum made several false or misleading assertions.<\/p>\n
JG Sablan asked the court to strike from the record the government\u2019s opposition and cross-motion for summary judgment, saying these were untimely filed.<\/p>\n
In denying the motion to strike, Wiseman cited that according to the plain language of the Commonwealth Rules of Civil Procedure 12(f),\u201d a motion to strike brought pursuant to Rule 12(f) cannot be used to strike documents other than pleadings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause a motion paper is not a pleading, the Rule 12(f) is inapplicable,\u201d the judge pointed out.<\/p>\n
Therefore, Wiseman said, no matter how persuasive JG Sablan\u2019s reasoning is, \u201cthe petitioner\u2019s motion to strike the Commonwealth\u2019s motion for partial summary judgment is improper because motion memoranda and affidavits are not pleadings within the meaning of Rule 12(f).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result, this court is reluctant to grant motions to strike\u2014especially in non-jury trial matters\u2014because they waste the court\u2019s time and energy, which should instead be focused on the merits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Motion to strike, Wiseman said, is inappropriate because the issue of the adequacy of agency due process was properly preserved in the hearing officer\u2019s findings of fact and conclusions of law.<\/p>\n
He said motion to strike is inappropriate because the truth or falsity of factual assertions can be weighed by the court.<\/p>\n
Wiseman said JG Sablan additionally alleges that several portions of DPL\u2019s memorandum should be stricken because they contain false assertions of fact.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout reaching the actual substance of the portions at issue, the court declines to strike them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Wiseman cited that there are other means to attack an opposing party\u2019s memorandum without filing separate motions.<\/p>\n
First, he said, JG Sablan could have filed its own statements of undisputed and disputed material facts.<\/p>\n
Second, Wiseman said, JG Sablan can simply refer to the perceived falsities in its memorandum without moving to strike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Superior Court has denied JG Sablan Rock Quarry Inc.\u2019s motion to remove portions of the arguments filed by the Department of Public Lands in connection with their dispute over the permit to mine pozzolan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}