THE U.S. Department of Justice-Aviation, Space & Admiralty Litigation Section is again urging the federal court to enter a default judgment against Imperial Pacific International LLC and its parent company, IPI Holdings Ltd., regarding the removal costs of IPI’s yacht, Grand Mariana.
In September, USDOJ also asked the court to enter default in the matter.
In his most recent motion, USDOJ civil and torts division attorney Frank Anders reiterated that “IPI and IPI Holdings have failed to respond to the complaint within the required time.”
The motion noted that USDOJ filed its original complaint on May 14, and IPI and IPI Holdings were served with the summons and verified complaint on Aug. 16.
Anders said the United States has not granted IPI and IPI Holdings any formal or informal extensions of time to file a response to the complaint, which pertains to the Grand Mariana’s removal costs incurred in response to the potential threat of oil spill after Super Typhoon Yutu made landfall in the Northern Marianas in October 2018.
The lawsuit seeks to recover $1,391,917.18 from the owners of the yacht for the “incident and removal action” costs.
Besides IPI and IPI Holdings, USDOJ also named Pride Keen Ltd. as defendant in the complaint. They were sued for liability under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 as registered owners of Grand Mariana.
