AN inmate, Price Shoiter has requested the federal court to enforce a settlement agreement and reopen the proceedings in his lawsuit against the Department of Corrections.
On Wednesday, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI granted Shoiter’s request and set aside a previous dismissal order.
Judge Manglona said, “A hearing is currently scheduled for Thursday, February 10, 2022, but to date no opposition has been filed. Pursuant to Local Rule 7.1(c)(2), the court finds that defendants’ failure to file an opposition is an admission that the motion is meritorious.”
The judge instructed the parties to submit a proposed scheduling order within 21 days of her order.
She scheduled a case management conference for March 10, 2022 at 1:30 p.m.
The judge then vacated the motions hearing scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 10.
Shoiter, a 74-year-old Chuukese national, was sentenced in 2016 to a 10-year prison sentence for sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl.
He later sued the Department of Corrections and its former and current officials in federal court, alleging that he was denied adequate medical care.
In February 2021, a settlement agreement was agreed and signed by all parties, contingent on the governor’s approval of Shoiter’s application for conditional clemency.
The governor, however, has denied Shoiter’s application for conditional clemency.
Under the settlement agreement, Shoiter, was to receive, among other things, conditional clemency, heart surgery and knee surgery before a certain deadline, and payment to his counsel of a lump sum amount to cover his damages.
The settlement agreement also provided that in the event that clemency was denied by the governor, the case would be put back on the trial calendar.
With Shoiter’s clemency denied, the settlement agreement has become null and void, his lawyer Michael Dotts said.
Dotts noted that medical treatment should have been given to Shoiter regardless of his settlement because medical care while incarcerated is a constitutional right.
Clemency, however, was the most important consideration, Dotts said.
“Without clemency, Shoiter would have never agreed to dismiss his case,” his lawyer added.
He likewise noted that the payment of the damages was due by Aug. 31, 2021, but it was not paid.
