CNMI consumer counsel Michael Ernest told the Variety yesterday that one of the total 34 cases filed was for mispricing items, one was against a hardware store that didn’t put prices on their items, and the rest were against stores who selling expired goods.
Ernest said of the 34 cases filed, one case was dismissed because the corporation went out of business.
“Of the remaining 33 cases, we have settled 20 cases with a fine and we expect that all will either settle or we will get a default judgment,” Ernest said.
Five cases were filed against different stores on Tinian, but no cases have been filed on Rota yet.
“The Tinian cases have not settled yet but we are still serving them,” Ernest added.
He said the goal of the crackdown is to raise awareness regarding the Consumer Protection Act.
“We have been careful not to seek too great an amount of fines, because we don’t want the stores to raise prices and then blame our enforcing the law as the reason for the price increase,” Ernest said.
“A secondary benefit of our investigations has been that we are finding out which stores are selling goods obtained from the troop store,” he added.
“Right now, our focus is on compliance, not punishment. In the future, stores could expect the fines to increase.”
Ernest said many stores complain that they shouldn’t have to pay anything, because times are tough.
“Our position is that, when times are tough, you have to follow the law even more. People feel cheated when times are tight,” he said.
Ernest commended his colleagues, including Vincent Lizama and Nory Pamintuan, for “doing an outstanding job on these consumer protection issues.”
“This is a team effort of which we can all be proud of,” Ernest said.
