CHIEF Judge Ramona V. Manglona has ordered Zaji O. Zajradhara to show cause, in writing, no later than Dec. 16, 2022, why his lawsuit against Commonwealth Covid-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program Administrator Ephiphanio “Epi” Cabrera and employee Dana Calvo should not be dismissed with prejudice.
On Aug. 18, 2022, Judge Manglona granted Zajradhara’s request to file his lawsuit without paying court fees, but dismissed his complaint. She also gave him time to amend his lawsuit.
Zajradhara, representing himself, had until Sept. 19, 2022, to file his first amended complaint.
On that day, Zajradhara asked the court for a 30-day extension which was granted and was due on Oct. 18, 2022.
In her order on Friday, Judge Manglona noted that to date the plaintiff had not filed an amended complaint.
In a previous motion, Zajradhara accused Judge Manglona of impartiality and requested that she recuse herself from handling the discrimination lawsuit he had separately filed against PC Bargain.
His request was denied.
In his lawsuit against Cabrera and Calvo, Zajradhara claimed that the CNMI government: 1) is misusing, misdirecting, and/or misappropriating federal funds intended for recipients of the Commonwealth Covid-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program or CCERA; 2) is discriminating against him “as evidenced by illegal actions” it has taken against him in violation of § 1983; 3) has overtly retaliated against him as a “minority American citizen” for bringing attention to the “rampant visa fraud, misuse of the visa system, and illegal registering of CW-1 workers as business owners”; and 4) has unjustly denied payment of his telephone and internet bill despite utilities being covered under the CCERA.
Zajradhara seeks relief in the form of 1) an injunction compelling the CNMI government to pay all CCERA rental unit telephone and internet utility bills; 2) a cease-and-desist order against the CNMI government to stop harassing him; 3) an audit of all programs and funding uses under the CCERA; and 4) monetary damages for pain, suffering, inconvenience, and loss of income if the CNMI does not respond in timely fashion and his telephone and internet services are disconnected.
He said he filed this claim on behalf of himself and “the general public.”
In September 2019, the CNMI Department of Labor-Administrative Hearing Office granted a motion for sanctions against Zajradhara over a labor complaint he filed against a restaurant for not hiring him as a waiter.
According to the hearing office, “It is an uncontroverted fact that [Zajradhara] has a history of filing many labor complaints.”
In March 2019, six House members introduced House Resolution 21-5 “to declare Zaji O. Zajradhara, formerly known as Steven Carl Farmer, a persona non-grata in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.”
According to the resolution, the Legislature is “cognizant of the malicious and ill-mannered actions of Zaji O. Zajradhara…in his filings of numerous labor claims against various businesses in the CNMI….”
Zaji Zajradhara
