AFTER three and a half years of litigation, Pacific Rim Land Development LLC’s breach of contract lawsuit against Imperial Pacific International was finally put to rest after District Court for NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona directed the federal court clerk on Tuesday to close the case.
In her seven-page order, the judge granted Pacific Rim’s motion to dismiss with prejudice the lawsuit it filed against IPI for breach of construction contract.
The judge likewise granted Pacific Rim’s motion for consideration of the federal court’s order denying without prejudice an earlier motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Judge Manglona’s order also denied as moot IPI’s motion to reconsider; to amend the scheduling order; and leave to amend pleadings to assert counterclaims.
Earlier this month, Pacific Rim’s attorney Colin Thompson told the court that “it had been a long, tedious, contentious, and challenging task for Pacific Rim to collect payment for its work as the general contractor for IPI’s casino and resort project.”
But he said the lawsuit should be voluntarily dismissed with prejudice as Pacific Rim was ready to end litigation and there was no reason not to dismiss with prejudice.
Pacific Rim successfully sued IPI for refusing to pay for services in the amount of $5.65 million after the contractor substantially completed or completed agreed-upon construction work for IPI’s casino-resort project on Sept. 30, 2018.
On April 27, 2020, the District Court for the NMI entered judgment in favor of Pacific Rim in the amount of $5.65 million, which IPI appealed on May 21, 2020.
On Oct. 20, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the judgment.
On Nov. 19, 2021, Judge Manglona granted Pacific Rim’s motion to release to Pacific Rim the $5.52 million held in an investment portfolio.
An IPI investor, Pacific International Property Management LLC, earlier placed $5.52 million “within the absolute discretion of the court for the purpose of securing a stay and paying on the judgment in the event that Pacific Rim prevailed in the appeal.”
