By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

THE Supreme Court has granted the Bank of Guam’s motion to dismiss the appeal of a businessman who was sued by the bank for refusing to turn over three dump trucks despite a court order.
Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan, Associate Justice John Å. Manglona and Justice Pro Tempore Kenneth L. Govendo in an order on Tuesday dismissed the appeal of Fidel Mendiola Jr. and D&J Equipment Rental on the ground that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear interlocutory orders.
Mendiola, owner of D&J Equipment Rental, filed the appeal on Feb. 9, after his motion for reconsideration was denied by the Superior Court on Jan. 10.
Mendiola sought the reversal of the trial court’s decision to dismiss his counterclaims for negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Superior Court Judge Juan T. Lizama, in an order denying the motion for reconsideration, ruled that the Bank of Guam had priority in the three trucks at issue, “thereby making its actions seeking to repossess those trucks privileged.”
Lizama said such privileged acts could not give rise to a claim for infliction of emotional distress as a matter of law.
A motion for reconsideration, he added, must generally be based on “an intervening change in controlling law, the availability of new evidence or the need to correct manifest injustice.”
The trial court said Mendiola and D&J have not suggested any change in law.
They have introduced evidence that attorney Danilo Aguilar had priority in one of the three trucks at issue, Lizama said.
However, he added, “because this fact was either known by defendants or easily discoverable by them before the original motion was argued, this is not ‘new evidence’ — instead it is old evidence that defendants could have used but did not.”
The high court, in denying Mendiola’s appeal, said it lacks jurisdiction because these orders are “interlocutory and do not fit within the collateral order exception.”
The High Court said the trial court did not find the orders appealable pursuant to Rule 54(b).
The Bank of Guam’s motion to dismiss the defendants appeal urged the high court to sanction Mendiola “for his abuse of the appellate process.”
The justices said Mendiola’s conduct might warrant such disciplinary action.
“Mendiola’s argument has no basis in law. Had he endeavored to cite relevant authority, surely he would have realized this. Instead, he chose to make general and unfounded legal assertions. Such improprieties force this court to waste valuable resources in an effort to determine whether unsubstantiated claims have any legal basis,” the justices stated.
Citing the lack of legal authority for Mendiola’s position and lack of effort in mounting a sustainable legal argument, the Supreme Court said it will order the lawyers of Mendiola and D&J, Antonio M. Atalig and Ramon K. Quichocho, to show cause why they should not be sanctioned.
Mendiola and his firm, D&J Equipment Rental, were sued by the Bank of Guam for refusing to turn over the trucks.
The bank, which said Mendiola illegally converted the trucks, sued for damages.
The three Isuzu dump trucks were owned by Western Equipment Inc. which defaulted on its loans in the amount of $1.4 million plus interest. The bank filed civil action against Western Equipment which was represented by attorney Danilo Aguilar.
Aguilar and Western executed a security agreement to ensure payment of his legal fees. The agreement covered the trucks.
Mendiola purchased the trucks from Aguilar.
He was then approached by the bank which informed him that it owned the trucks.
But Mendiola managed to take possession of the trucks and paid Aguilar $21,000.
The bank stated that he refused to turn over the trucks despite being told to do so.