Saipan Development LLC is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona\u2019s order that dismissed its lawsuit against the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. over the voided power purchase agreement.<\/p>\n
SDLLC, through counsel William M. Fitzgerald, informed the federal court yesterday that it has elevated Manglona\u2019s order last June 24 to the Ninth Circuit.<\/p>\n
SDLLC is appealing to reverse Manglona\u2019s order. Fitzgerald did not indicate SDLLC\u2019s grounds for appeal in the notice.<\/p>\n
In the June 24 order, Manglona abstained from hearing SDLLC\u2019s lawsuit and granted CUC\u2019s motion to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice. Dismissal with prejudice means SDLLC cannot re-open the case.<\/p>\n
SDLLC is the Delaware-based contractor of the controversial $190.8-million power purchase agreement that then-governor Benigno R. Fitial and then-attorney general Edward T. Buckingham inked on behalf of CUC.<\/p>\n
Manglona said the fact that a lawsuit filed in Superior Court preceded this federal case for over a year; that the CNMI court had already resolved a crucial substantive issue; and that SDLLC received adequate protection through its full participation in the CNMI court action provides enough bases and clear justifications to abstain from hearing the case.<\/p>\n
According to court records, SDLLC entered into a contract with CUC in 2012 to build a new power plant. Fitial and Buckingham signed the contract on behalf of CUC.<\/p>\n
That same year, Rep. Janet Maratita (IR-Saipan) and several others brought a taxpayers lawsuit in local courts against SDLLC and CUC, seeking to declare the contract invalid.<\/p>\n
In January 2013, Buckingham\u2019s successor as AG informed SDLLC that the contract was legally invalid and void from the beginning.<\/p>\n
Eleven months later, SDLLC filed a breach of contract lawsuit against CUC in federal court.<\/p>\n
CUC, through counsel Deborah E. Fisher, sought to have SDLLC\u2019s lawsuit dismissed, arguing that the decision of Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman to declare the PPA as void from the beginning should preclude SDLLC\u2019s lawsuit in federal court.<\/p>\n
In SDLLC\u2019s opposition to CUC\u2019s motion, Fitzgerald, asserted that Fitial\u2019s executive order excuses CUC from complying with procurement regulations and that this means that the PPA was valid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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