SUPERIOR Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho has ruled in favor of Conrad Muna Sablan in his lawsuit against the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation for putting up a million-gallon water tank and fences on Sablan’s property in Sadog Tasi.
In his 35-page ruling, Judge Camacho said an unconstitutional taking occurred, adding that CUC can be held liable in an inverse condemnation action despite not having eminent domain powers.
As for Sablan’s inverse condemnation claim, it is not barred by the statute of limitations, Judge Camacho added.
He also said that the excavation of the relevant property and the water shaft are permanent trespasses.
“The Commonwealth, or at least an entity within it, entered onto private property, excavated, and graded a portion of the land, dug a well, and placed the water tank on a portion of it without providing any just compensation,” the judge said. “The water tank was then fenced off, thereby physically appropriating the property and denying the property owner access to that portion of the property.”
He said “if the court were to conclude that…agencies could escape liability for physically appropriating private property merely by lacking eminent domain authority, then the Commonwealth would have a perverse incentive to intentionally not give the agencies that would benefit from acquiring real property eminent domain powers in the hopes that the government entities can get away with using the real property but without paying for it.”
Instead, the judge added, “the general per se rule must be followed, and that is the government must always pay for what it takes.”
Sablan, who is represented by attorney Brien Sers Nicholas, sued CUC for an inverse condemnation claim and a tortious trespass claim.
In an inverse condemnation action, a plaintiff seeks monetary award from the government when the government takes the plaintiff’s property without providing just compensation.
Judge Camacho said the amount of just compensation owed in the inverse condemnation claim and trespass claim will be addressed in a separate hearing.
Moreover, whether Sablan owned the relevant property at the time of the taking will be addressed in a separate hearing, and the issue of which defendant, CUC or the CNMI government, was responsible for the unconstitutional taking and to what degree liability should be apportioned will also be addressed in a separate hearing, the judge said.
He has scheduled a status conference for Oct. 18 at 2:30 p.m. in courtroom 220.
In 2013, Sablan found out that CUC had built the Maui IV Water Tank on his land, and that CUC also built wire fences that prevented him from being able to access his other property in the same area.
Sablan filed the lawsuit in 2015 against CUC and the CNMI government.
CUC was represented by attorney Colin M. Thompson while the CNMI government was represented by Assistant Attorneys General Christopher Timmons, Keisha Blaise and J. Robert Glass.
