DISTRICT Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona has dismissed with prejudice the constitutional violation claims filed by Zaji O. Zajradhara against GIG Partners Inc., its general controller Christylyn Montilla, assistant bar manager Bryan Mendoza Jr. and owner Takayuki Niizeki.
Zaji O. Zajradhara
But the judge allowed Zajradhara to refile his civil rights claim violation and provide additional information regarding the allegation.
Zajradhara, representing himself, sued GIG and the other defendants, accusing them of discrimination and violation of his constitutional rights, causing him “mental and emotional pain, suffering, and trauma.”
In her order, Judge Manglona said Zajradhara “provides no other statement describing his claims, and instead provides the court with numerous exhibits attached in a disordered fashion, including email correspondences with defendants, copies of checks, and independent contractor agreement, records from his 2019 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission case, records from various cases he filed in 2017 with the CNMI [Department of Labor] and records from his complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice-Civil Rights Division.”
“Thus, with much effort,” the judge said, “the court has pulled together from plaintiff’s various exhibits that he may have one potentially viable claim for a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.”
She said the exhibits show that Zajradhara filed a charge with EEOC-Honolulu office, alleging that he was discriminated from a bartender/waitstaff position he applied for in late 2018 at GIG because of his age, color, black and Native American race, national origin, or was retaliated against for engaging in protected activity.
Judge Manglona noted that after the EEOC dismissed the claim on Aug. 21, 2020, Zajradhara timely sought judicial review with the court.
But she said the complaint must include facts that can allow the court “to draw reasonable inference that the defendants are liable for the misconduct alleged.”
She said, at this time, Zajradhara’s allegation that the defendants “violated” his rights is “vague and conclusory such that it does not meet the requirements of Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.”
As to Zajradhara’s various federal question claims, the judge said they are “frivolous.”
She directed Zajradhara to file an amended complaint to his Title VII claim no later than Feb. 11, 2021. Failing this, the court will dismiss the lawsuit and order the clerk of court to close the case, she added.
In March 2019, six lawmakers introduced House Resolution 21-5 “to declare Zaji O. Zajradhara, formerly known as Steven Carl Farmer, a persona non-grata in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.”
According to the resolution, the Legislature is “cognizant of the malicious and ill-mannered actions of Zaji O. Zajradhara…in his filings of numerous labor claims against various businesses in the CNMI….”
The resolution stated that Zajradhara “has also expressed a violent and threatening nature to such businesses…and to the employees of the Department of Labor….”
