{"id":240277,"date":"2016-11-11T06:00:25","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T20:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=240277"},"modified":"2016-11-11T06:00:25","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T20:00:25","slug":"company-claims-mv-luta-owners-failed-pay-300k-loan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/company-claims-mv-luta-owners-failed-pay-300k-loan\/","title":{"rendered":"Company claims that M\/V Luta owners failed to pay $300K loan"},"content":{"rendered":"

A limited liability company has claimed to have a maritime lien on cargo ship M\/V Luta<\/em> after the vessel\u2019s owners allegedly failed to repay any part of their $300,000 loan or any interest.<\/p>\n

Long Consulting LLC, through counsel Daniel T. Guidotti, asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI on Tuesday to allow it to intervene in a lawsuit filed by Japanese investor Takahisa Yamamoto against Lt. Gov. Victor Hocog and some owners\/operators of M\/V Luta.<\/p>\n

Long Consulting\u2019s complaint is suing M\/V Luta<\/em> for foreclosure of maritime lien. The company is also suing Luta Mermaid LLC, Hocog, Abelina T. Mendiola, Deron T. Mendiola, and Fidel S. Mendiola III for breach of contract.<\/p>\n

Luta Mermaid owns M\/V Luta<\/em>. Abelina Mendiola, Fidel S. Mendiola III, and Deron Mendiola are members of the company. Abelina Mendiola is based on Rota, while Fidel Mendiola is a resident of Louisiana, while Deron Mendiola is a resident of Idaho, according to court papers.<\/p>\n

Guidotti asked the court to issue a judgment for $300,000 against M\/V Luta<\/em>, plus 10 percent interest, attorney\u2019s fees, and court costs.<\/p>\n

Guidotti asked the court to order the sale of M\/V Luta<\/em> and for the proceeds to be applied toward any judgment rendered in favor of Long Consulting.<\/p>\n

Guidotti stated in the complaint that Luta Mermaid, through Abelina Mendiola, approached Long Consulting in 2015 about a loan to bring the vessel from its dock in Lousiana into active service in the CNMI.<\/p>\n

The lawyer said that on Nov. 4, 2015, Abelina Mendiola, in her capacity as president of Luta Mermaid, signed a loan agreement.<\/p>\n

Under the deal, Long Consulting agreed to loan $300,000 to Luta Mermaid in exchange for the vessel as collateral plus other promises. Abelina Mendiola also allegedly signed on Nov. 4, 2015, a security agreement that pledged the vessel as security for the loan agreement.<\/p>\n

Guidotti said Luta Mermaid used the loan proceeds to fund M\/V Luta\u2019s operating expenses from its dock in Louisiana to the CNMI.<\/p>\n

Guidotti said Luta Mermaid operated M\/V Luta in the Pacific Ocean, specifically in the waters around Saipan, Tinian, and Rota until the U.S. Marshals seized the vessel on Oct. 25, 2016.<\/p>\n

Guidotti said that Luta Mermaid, Deron Mendiola, Abelina Mendiola, and Fidel Mendiola have defaulted on the loan to Long Consulting by failing to make any payment on the $300,000 principal amount or any interest.<\/p>\n

Aside from Hocog, Yamamoto is suing M\/V Luta<\/em>, Luta Mermaid LLC, Abelina T. Mendiola, Deron T. Mendiola, Fidel S. Mendiola III, Fidel Mendiola Jr., and Robert Toelkes\u2014for breach of contract, fraud, and unjust enrichment.<\/p>\n

Yamamoto alleged that Hocog and co-defendants refused to pay back the $3.4 million that he put up for M\/V Luta<\/em>. He asked the court that the vessel be condemned and be sold to pay his demands, including interest and cost.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Marshal Service seized M\/V Luta<\/em> and appointed the National Maritime Services Inc. as custodian of the vessel. <\/p>\n

Last May, former Department of Public Lands secretary John DelRosario filed a taxpayer\u2019s lawsuit against Hocog and Finance Secretary Larrisa Larson over the alleged adoption of a Rota Legislative Delegation Resolution 19-3 without public notice that purportedly authorized payment of $400,000 to Luta Mermaid, a private company owned by Hocog\u2019s relatives. (Ferdie de la Torre) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A limited liability company has claimed to have a maritime lien on cargo ship M\/V…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[10454,14199,14200,11454],"class_list":["post-240277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-abelina-mendiola","tag-deron-mendiola","tag-long-consulting","tag-luta-mermaid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240277","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}