{"id":407021,"date":"2024-03-15T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=407021"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"DPS-Camacho-improperly-added-department-in-its-appeal-vs-CSC","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/DPS-Camacho-improperly-added-department-in-its-appeal-vs-CSC\/","title":{"rendered":"DPS: Camacho improperly added department in its appeal vs. CSC"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Department of Public Safety claims it was improperly joined in Sgt. Peter Raymond Camacho\u2019s petition for judicial review of a Civil Service Commission decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cPetitioner has wrongly joined DPS, an improper party, because DPS itself issued no order adjudicating his grievance. In addition, for the reasons mentioned, DPS cannot be a proper party for petitioner\u2019s constitutional due process claim and DPS should be dropped as a party to that claim in this proceeding. The court should either dismiss DPS from this case or remand this matter back to DPS for a proper order,\u201d DPS claims.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Camacho, through his lawyers Robert Torres and Oliver Manglona, appealed CSC\u2019s decision that denied the grievances he filed against DPS, alleging that the commission violated his rights, as well as the Open Government Act. In this appeal, Camacho named DPS as a party, but DPS is now claiming the department was improperly joined in this administrative appeal.<\/p>\n

DPS, through assistant attorney general Charles P. Reyes Jr., has filed a motion asking that the department either be removed as a party, or the matter be remanded back to DPS for acting DPS commissioner Anthony Macarnas to rule on.<\/p>\n

\u201cRespondent DPS…requests that this court drop it as a named respondent\u2026because Camacho improperly joined it in this administrative appeal. Alternatively, DPS moves the court to remand this matter back to DPS for a proper order issued by the acting DPS commissioner,\u201d states the motion.<\/p>\n

Reyes, in his motion, argues that Camacho failed to state a legitimate legal basis for including DPS in the appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cPetitioner alleges that he filed a grievance with DPS, his employer, regarding employment-related matters in 2021. Petitioner further alleges that the Office of the Attorney General responded to petitioner\u2019s grievance by a letter addressed to petitioner\u2019s counsel(s), that was filed under its letterhead and signed by the Commonwealth Attorney General, yet was intended to be DPS\u2019 response to Sgt. Camacho\u2019s formal grievance. Petitioner asks this court to find that the OAG improperly commandeered DPS\u2019 responsibility to respond to Sgt. Camacho\u2019s formal grievances when it prematurely injected itself into the grievance process. Taking all allegations of fact as true and construing them in the light most favorable to petitioner, petitioner has failed to state a legitimate legal basis for his joinder of DPS. In addition, to the extent that petitioner raises issues outside the scope of an Administrative Procedures Act review, such as constitutional due process claims pursuant to which petitioner seeks recovery of certain amounts of salary and compensation disbursed by DPS, DPS is not a proper party to this action as it is not a sue-and-be-sued entity subject to suit,\u201d the motion states.<\/p>\n

Because of this, DPS states that the court should drop DPS as a respondent in this administrative appeal because DPS made no decision regarding the petitioner.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy petitioner\u2019s own admission, DPS is not the party against whom the appeal is taken; rather, the appeal is taken against the OAG and the CSC affirming the OAG\u2019s decision. Thus, the court should either drop DPS or remand this case back to DPS to issue an order from the acting commissioner or ask petitioner to accept the OAG decision as the official order from DPS,\u201d said Reyes.<\/p>\n

Reyes also added that nothing found in any statute allows or implies any capacity or ability for DPS to sue or be sued.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder Commonwealth law, DPS has no legal existence separate and apart from the Commonwealth proper. It is a non-jural entity and on that basis cannot be a defendant in this suit, only a respondent for the limited purpose of APA review,\u201d said the motion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The CNMI Guma Hustisia or CNMI Judiciary in Susupe.<\/p>\n

-KIMBERLY B. ESMORES
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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