U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona started yesterday a bench trial to determine if a former contractor of Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC has enough evidence to establish a mechanic\u2019s lien on IPI\u2019s property.<\/p>\n
U.S.A. Fanter Corp. Ltd.\u2019s first witness, John Robertson, a U.S. mainland-based structural and civil engineer, testified through video that he agreed with U.S.A. Fanter\u2019s evaluation that its contract with IPI was 41% complete. Robertson testified that U.S.A. Fanter was only paid $300,000 and that it is owed at least $2,089,000. He later agreed, though, with IPI counsel Cong Nie during cross-examination that he has no personal knowledge of how U.S.A. Fanter arrived at that calculation.<\/p>\n
When Saipan Tribune left the courtroom at noon, Nie was still questioning Robertson.<\/p>\n
U.S.A. Fanter counsel Colin M. Thompson earlier said in an interview that they had established a case based on probable cause finding. \u201cWe established that by the evidence. The court issued a mechanic\u2019s lien,\u201d Thompson said. A mechanic\u2019s lien refers to a security interest in the title to property for the benefit of those who have supplied labor or materials that improve the property.<\/p>\n
At this bench trial, Thompson said, they need to prove it by a higher standard\u2014a preponderance of evidence. \u201cSo we are presenting evidence, witnesses,\u201d he said, adding that they would probably present a total of four witnesses.<\/p>\n
Thompson said if Manglona will find a preponderance of evidence, then she will issue a mechanic\u2019s lien and the case will continue. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe do have a mechanic\u2019s lien now but we need to prove by a higher standard. \u2026If we are successful, the mechanic\u2019s lien will remain and the case will continue while we prove breach of contract and other remedies,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n
Last April, Manglona ordered that for the lien amount of $2.89 million U.S.A. Fanter shall have a mechanic\u2019s lien to attach upon the improvements of IPI\u2019s hotel-casino complex in Garapan.<\/p>\n
Manglona ordered that U.S.A. Fanter shall also have a mechanic\u2019s lien to attach upon the real property interest of IPI in a 1.567 hectare lot in Garapan. The fee simple owner of the lot is the Commonwealth Investment Company LLC. IPI has a leasehold interest on this land.<\/p>\n
Manglona made a probable cause finding in favor of U.S.A. Fanter last March 27 for the issuance and attachment of a mechanic\u2019s lien.<\/p>\n
U.S.A. Fanter is suing IPI for allegedly refusing to pay $2,089,345 over landscaping improvements for IPI\u2019s hotel-casino project. U.S.A. Fanter asked the court to hold IPI liable to pay $2.08 million in contract damages. The company also sought payment for interest and attorney\u2019s fees.<\/p>\n
IPI, through counsel Joseph Horey, argued that U.S.A. Fanter has not complied with the mandatory mediation clause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona started yesterday a bench…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":325433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12497],"class_list":["post-325396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-ipi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325396","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=325396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}