The federal court directed the owners of the defunct Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino to explain why it failed to obtain a lawyer for a lawsuit filed by foreign workers over the denial of their CNMI-only Transitional Worker petitions.<\/p>\n
U.S. District Court for the NMI Magistrate Judge Heather Kennedy gave Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investment Ltd. and Mega Stars Overseas Limited until Feb. 8, 2018, to respond.<\/p>\n
Kennedy issued the order Tuesday after HKE director Chun Wai Chan, who spoke via telephone at the hearing, told the court that they have not retained a lawyer for the case and do not intend to do so.<\/p>\n
He cited the company\u2019s financial inability to do so.<\/p>\n
Kennedy stressed that failing to hire a lawyer in the case may result in removing HKE\u2019s and Mega Stars\u2019 answer to the lawsuit and entering a default judgment against them.<\/p>\n
At the Jan. 16 hearing, attorney Daniel Guidotti withdrew as counsel for HKE and Mega Stars after both companies failed to pay his fees.<\/p>\n
Kennedy informed HKE and Mega Stars at the time that they may only appear in court through an attorney. She also explained that failure to obtain a lawyer may result in sanctions, including default judgment.<\/p>\n
The status conference on Tuesday was intended to determine if HKE and Mega Stars have already obtained a new lawyer.<\/p>\n
Attorney Samuel Mok appeared with Eric F. Dona and six other co-plaintiffs. There are 15 named plaintiffs in this case.<\/p>\n
In their lawsuit, Dona and co-plaintiffs alleged that the owners and the management of Tinian Dynasty lied to them about their immigration status, that they were authorized to work despite the denial of their CW-1 petitions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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