SUPERIOR Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho has ordered the parties in the lawsuit of nine terminated firefighters to monitor any development with the Emergency Use Authorization or EUA of the Covid-19 vaccine.
At the hearing on Aug. 12, Judge Camacho noted that the parties informed the court about the anticipated full approval of the vaccine.
The judge then directed the attorneys for the government to file a notice to the court if and or when an event occurs.
“The court may allow the parties to supplement their briefs and/or have additional arguments, if necessary, as the posture of the case and some of issues may change,” Judge Camacho said.
The judge has also taken under advisement the terminated firefighters’ request to be reinstated in their previous positions while a decision on their lawsuit is pending.
“The parties shall submit their [proposed] orders regarding all the issues in the Amended Complaint, including the Civil Service issues on or before September 7,” he said.
The nine former firefighters have asked the Superior Court to issue an order declaring their terminations invalid and unlawful, and to set their terminations aside.
The plaintiffs are claiming violations of the individual privacy clause of the CNMI Constitution, as well as deprivation of property without due process of law.
They are also alleging that their terminations violated the due process clause and the equal protection clause of the Commonwealth Constitution.
They are likewise alleging that their terminations violated the parallel clauses set forth in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as applicable to the CNMI via the Covenant.
Represented by attorney Joseph Horey, the plaintiffs are Paul Acebedo, Jose K. Angui, Allen T. Calvo, Cain C. Castro, Argenon A. Flores, Derek B. Gersonde, Shawn DLR Kaipat, Philip Kalen, and Adam J. Safer.
They named as defendants the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, and its commissioner, Dennis Mendiola, in his official and personal capacities.
The plaintiffs were terminated for insubordination following their refusal to take the Covid-19 vaccine as required by the CNMI Governor’s Directive 2021-002.
DFEMS and Mendiola are represented by Assistant Attorneys General Keith Chambers II and Abbi Novotny.
In their opposition to reinstate the terminated firefighters, the government lawyers said the plaintiffs cannot show that “an intrusion rising to the level of a constitutional violation occurred” because no “unconsented physical intrusion” of any kind occurred.
They said the court cannot find that the defendants violated Article I, Section 10 of the CNMI Constitution.
