SUPERIOR Court Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja has granted the request of Modern Investment Inc., owner of Saipan Ocean View Hotel, and Trinidad Benavente for a preliminary injunction against the construction of the Royal View Hotel, previously the Sunleader building, in Garapan.
Judge Naraja enjoined Sunleader Co. Ltd., Hui Tao Tsang, Dragon Pacific Corporation, Sunyes Saipan Corporation, and Yantze Corporation from any further work or construction of the Royal View Hotel.
The judge likewise stopped the defendants from opening the hotel until soil testing has been conducted, and a geotechnical report has been issued by an independent agency or laboratory on the soil underlying the Sunleader/Royal View Hotel.
“No bond is required of plaintiffs at this time,” Judge Naraja said.
He scheduled a status conference for Dec. 21, 2022 at 9 a.m. and ordered all parties to appear.
“The parties shall be prepared to discuss retention of an agreed-upon expert to provide a geotechnical report,” the judge added.
“Although the Sunleader defendants’ evidence of the 2018 earthquake, Typhoon Yutu, and age and apparent shoddy construction of the Ocean View Hotel is well-taken, plaintiffs have nevertheless met their burden of demonstrating the existence of serious questions going to the merits of this case,” Judge Naraja stated in his 15-page order.
For instance, the judge said, while the prior quality of construction of the plaintiffs’ buildings may have played a role in the severity of the damage presently seen in the Ocean View Hotel and the Fun & Games building, it is altogether possible that construction of the Sunleader Hotel was a major cause of, or contributing factor to, that damage.
“Similarly, while it may be possible that at least some of the damage to plaintiffs’ buildings was caused by the 2018 earthquake and/or Typhoon Yutu, it is also possible that the adjacency of the buildings, in conjunction with the sheer size and weight of the Sunleader Hotel, led to exacerbated damage to plaintiffs’ buildings —compared to the hypothetical damage plaintiffs’ buildings would have taken had there been sufficient clearance between their buildings and the Sunleader Hotel,” the judge added.
Modern Investment Inc., the owner of Saipan Ocean View Hotel, and Trinidad Benavente as well as other unnamed individuals want the court to stop the opening of the new five-story hotel until a soil testing and a geotechnical report or laboratory soil testing by an independent agency has been completed in the area where the hotel was built.
The plaintiffs, represented by attorneys Robert T. Torres and Charity Hodson, filed a notice of application and application for preliminary injunction in November 2019.
The lawsuit sought an order from the court enjoining Sunleader Co. Ltd., Hui Tao Tsang, Dragon Pacific Corporation, Sunyes Saipan Corporation, and Yantze Corporation from any further work or construction of the Royal View Hotel.
The plaintiffs’ lawsuit also seeks to recover for injuries to their buildings allegedly caused by the construction of the Royal View Hotel. Their preliminary injunction seeks to halt the construction of the hotel.
The construction project added four floors to the Sunleader building in Garapan, which is adjacent to Ocean View Hotel and the Benavente building. Ocean View Hotel is owned by Modern Investment while the Benavente building is leased to Fun and Games.
The Sunleader building will become the Royal View Hotel as a result of the construction.
In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that the modifications to the Sunleader building “has and will continue to injure the foundation of their buildings causing numerous large cracks throughout their buildings.”
Robert C. Naraja
