THE Commonwealth Ports Authority stands firm against what its legal counsel says is Star Marianas Air’s “improper attempts to coerce action without any basis in law or fact.”
The CPA board and Star Marianas officials led by their president Bob Christian were invited by senators to the Senate chamber on Tuesday in an attempt to settle their dispute out of court.
Aside from Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider, the other senators present in the meeting were Victor Hocog, Frank Cruz, and Karl King-Nabors.
The Superior Court has yet to decide on the complaint filed by Star Marianas against CPA in December 2020, alleging breach of contract.
CPA, according to its attorney, Robert T. Torres, filed a motion to dismiss which will be heard in April 2021.
In a letter to the senators, Torres said CPA “anticipates that the outcome of this most recent pending litigation by [Star Marianas Air or] SMA will meet the same failed ends as all of SMA’s previous improper attempts to coerce action without any basis in law or fact.”
The letter from Torres summarizes the ongoing dispute, which, according to CPA, stemmed from Star Marianas’ unpaid passenger facility charges.
Star Marianas, for its part, said CPA imposed “excessive charges not based on fair market value.” The airline also accused CPA of economic discrimination by failing to provide analysis of its landing fee charges between fiscal years 2009 and 2014.
Star Marianas said CPA has not made its terminals available for public use on reasonable terms, and is charging beyond what is permitted in the airline use agreement that Star Marianas and CPA signed in 2009.
For his part, Torres informed the senators that the District Court for the NMI and the Federal Aviation Administration “have repeatedly dismissed” Star Marianas’ “improper and unfounded complaints.”
