U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona dismissed without prejudice Friday all the claims of 15 former foreign workers of the defunct Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino against the Mega Stars Overseas Ltd., the company that was managing the Dynasty just before it closed.<\/p>\n
This means the former foreign workers of the Tinian Dynasty may re-file the lawsuit against Mega Stars in the future.<\/p>\n
Manglona ordered the dismissal after the 15 plaintiffs, through their counsel Samuel Mok, notified the court Friday that they don\u2019t object to dismissing all their claims against Mega Stars.<\/p>\n
With the dismissal, Manglona nullified her order that directed the workers to explain why she should not drop their claims against Mega Stars considering that she had already entered a default judgment against Tinian Dynasty\u2019s owner, Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investment Limited.<\/p>\n
The court\u2019s clerk was directed to close the case.<\/p>\n
Mok said they do not object to the dismissal but asked that the dismissal be made such that they can re-file the claims in the future.<\/p>\n
Mok said his clients may pursue a joint-employer theory of liability against Mega Stars for the claims previously asserted in their complaint.<\/p>\n
Mok said the plaintiffs have not yet come to a consensus on whether to pursue such a claim at this time.<\/p>\n
The default judgment entered last June 7 awarded the 15 former foreign workers $800,168 in compensatory and punitive damages in connection with their lawsuit against HKE and Mega Stars.<\/p>\n
Manglona found HKE liable to pay them as to their claims for fraudulent concealment and wrongful termination.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs sued HKE and Mega Stars for allegedly lying to them that they were legally authorized to work, despite the denial of their CW-1 petitions.<\/p>\n
Majority of the 15 plaintiffs have lived in the CNMI for many years and have children who are U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs asked the court to issue a default judgment holding HKE and Mega Stars liable to pay them $4.2 million in damages. <\/p>\n
Both HKE and Mega Stars previously defaulted in this case and did not appear at the May 9, 2019 hearing, although they have been notified.<\/p>\n
Tinian Dynasty\u2019s casino operation stopped in August 2015. The hotel operation halted in March 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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