By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

On Wednesday, the U.S. District Court of Guam will hear the governor’s motion to dismiss the appraisal lawsuit re-filed last year by the Attorney General’s Office.
A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, and a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction or in the alternative, a motion to stay filed by the Office of the Governor, are pending before the federal court and will be argued starting at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
The federal lawsuit on the government’s alleged failure to correct the property tax system was dismissed in 2005 but the Attorney General’s Office re-filed it on Aug. 14, 2006.
The AGO, through Deputy Attorney General Joseph Guthrie, reiterated that Gov. Felix P. Camacho and Revenue and Taxation director Art Ilagan should follow the law by conducting a comprehensive island-wide appraisal.
On Sept. 5, 2006, Dan Benjamin, conflicts counsel for the governor, filed a motion to dismiss the revived complaint for lack of jurisdiction and for failure of the plaintiff to state a claim.
Judge Joaquin Manibusan noted that while the parties have agreed upon a discovery cut-off date of July 16, 2007, this is not the cut-off date with regard to expert reports.
Based on the agreed-upon trial date of Sept. 24, 2007, the parties’ expert reports must be disclosed by June 26, 2007 with rebuttal expert reports to be disclosed 30 days thereafter or no later than July 24, 2007.
Atty. Bill Mann, who is representing the AGO, suggested that the proposed discovery plan be amended to include a provision that requires the plaintiff to make its expert witness disclosures no later than May 15, 2007 with the defendants to make their rebuttal expert witness disclosures no later than June 15, 2007.
Judge Manibusan also raised the issue of whether the proposed discovery plan would change in light of the recent election results.
The parties acknowledged that this was a possibility but suggested the case should proceed with the new attorney general to make a determination upon taking office in January.
The AGO filed the first appraisal lawsuit in the District Court of Guam on Dec. 22, 2005 against Camacho and Ilagan.
The AGO said the people of Guam’s due process and equal protection rights have been violated due to non-appraisal of residential and commercial property.
Former Attorney General Douglas Moylan earlier said that appraisal is required in order to value, assess and tax the real property of private and commercial property owners.
The lawsuit seeks to compel the governor to faithfully execute the laws of Guam and like the federal courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, asked the court to stop officials from seeking to exact real property taxes from Guam citizens under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses in the Organic Act until an appraisal is conducted.
Moylan said GovGuam has not conducted an appraisal for 12 years even as Guam law requires the appraisal to be conducted every three years. The last appraisal was done in 1993.