SARDINI Group Inc. and Imperial Pacific International LLC are requesting the District Court for the NMI to issue a protective order to prevent confidential information disclosures in their civil litigation.
An engineering firm based in New York, Sardini Group sued IPI for breach of contract in the amount of $1.95 million.
On Thursday, IPI, through attorney Samuel Salyer, and Sardini Group, represented by attorney Joe W. McDoulett, filed a stipulated motion for a protective order.
“Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted,” the stipulation stated.
IPI and Sardini Group “acknowledge that this order does not confer blanket protection on all disclosures or responses to discovery, and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles.”
Last year, Sardini Group sued IPI for breach of contract and unjust enrichment.
The plaintiff, which is demanding a jury trial, asked the court to issue an order awarding Sardini Group $1.9 million, consequential damages, pre-and post judgment interests, and attorney’s fees and costs.
Background
According to the lawsuit, on Nov. 3, 2015, Shanghai Chinafu Structural Design Inc. and IPI entered a written contract for the provision of design and engineering services needed for the construction of IPI’s hotel-casino in Garapan, Saipan.
Prior to July 11, 2016, Chinafu assigned its rights and benefits under the contract to Sardini Group for the “additional services” to be performed.
Under the contract, Chinafu and subsequently Sardini Group agreed to provide structural engineering and design services, connection design services, site engineering support services, and additional services as required for the construction of the IPI hotel-casino.
Additional services included all design services that were not explicitly described in the scope of work in the contract; onsite consultation revision to designs produced according to scope of work; change orders; onsite engineering consulting services; and other engineering services outside the “core and shell” of the project.
The lawsuit stated that in exchange for the additional services, IPI agreed to pay Sardini Group according to a schedule of fees of hourly rates based on the position and experience of Sardini Group personnel.
On July 11, 2016, Sardini Group provided IPI with a summary of all services it performed up to June 30, 2016, amounting to $1.22 million.
Sardini Group billed IPI on Oct. 26, 2016.
On Nov. 8, 2016 Sardini Group issued an invoice of $200,000 to IPI representing a partial invoice of the outstanding amounts owed.
On Nov. 23, 2016, IPI paid Sardini Group $100,000.
According to McDoulett, IPI assured Sardini Group that additional payments would be provided to encourage the engineering firm to continue providing additional services under the contact.
“Despite the failure to pay the amount owed, IPI continued to demand additional services from Sardini Group,” McDoulett said.
Sardini Group on Jan. 2, 2017 issued a second invoice in the amount of $400,000 and provided an updated summary of services rendered amounting to $1.78 million on Oct. 5, 2017.
Another request for payment for services rendered was made by Sardini Group on Jan. 19, 2018.
“In order to induce Sardini Group to continue to provide additional services, IPI assured the engineering firm that payment would be made for the services rendered and the services performed. It relied on this promise when it continued to provide services after Jan. 19, 2018,” McDoulett said.
By March 5, 2018, the total calculated fee for services provided by Sardini Group to IPI was $2 million, the lawsuit stated.
It added that IPI has never paid Sardini Group after the first initial payment of $100,000.
The District Court for the NMI in Gualo Rai.
