THE Office of the Attorney General’s civil division is objecting to the demand of Drs. Francois Claassens and James Toskas to hold a jury trial in the lawsuit they filed against the Rota Health Center and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.
In 2017, Claassens and Toskas sued RHC and CHCC for compensation for work performed beyond their normal schedules, claiming breach of contract and quantum meruit, a Latin term meaning “what one has earned” or “reasonable value of services.”
The doctors are alleging that CHCC and RHC failed to pay them for administrative leave accruement totaling $635,187.
In May 2018, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho dismissed their claims, saying that no one authorized Claassens and Toskas to obtain additional compensation for working extra hours.
But the doctors appealed and on Aug. 2, 2021, the CNMI Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s ruling and remanded the lawsuit for further proceedings.
On Jan. 7, 2022, CHCC and RHC, through Assistant Attorneys General John P. Lowrey and Stephen T. Anson, filed a notice objecting to the plaintiffs’ demand for a jury trial.
“Defendants have not consented to the jury trial demand, and instead conveyed to the Court during the January 4, 2022 status conference that the dispute could be resolved through dispositive motions following the conclusion of discovery,” the government lawyers said.
To clear up any confusion, they added, “defendants file this instant notice to clarify the record that defendants object to plaintiffs’ jury trial demand and that plaintiffs otherwise lack a right to a jury trial for their claims against the Commonwealth.”
According to the government lawyers, “a jury trial is otherwise unavailable to the Plaintiffs asserting their specific claims against CHCC under the Commonwealth Code.”
They added, “Claims concerning an express or implied contract with the Commonwealth government are one of the types of actions specified in 7 CMC § 2251(b). 7 CMC § 2251 applies to CHCC as a public corporation to the same extent it applies to the Commonwealth itself 7 CMC § 2211. 7 CMC § 2253 further confirms that all actions brought against the Commonwealth ‘shall be tried by the court without a jury.’”
The Commonwealth “may waive the provisions of 7 CMC § 2253 in a particular case, and may demand a trial by jury to the same extent as a private party would be entitled to do so,” they said.
However, in this instance, “defendants do not waive the certain foregoing provisions of the Commonwealth Code and do not consent to a jury trial,” the government lawyers said.
“To the extent this dispute cannot be resolved through a dispositive motion, it must be resolved at a bench trial instead of a jury trial,” they added.
On Monday, Judge Camacho set a hearing for March 29, 2022 at 2:30 p.m.
The two doctors are represented by attorneys Stephen J. Nutting and Tiberius Mocanu.
