THE local judiciary is not closed to the public as court services are still provided at alternate sites, and hearings and trials continue to take place there as well as at the Guma’ Hustisia, CNMI Supreme Court Clerk of Court Judy T. Aldan said.
“In 2018,” she added, “only portions of the Guma’ Hustisia facility were closed to allow the mold remediation and HVAC project to proceed in phases.”
In 2019, the clerk of court offices operated at the Marianas Business Plaza. The clerk of court is the custodian of all records filed with the court and is also responsible for issuing criminal and traffic clearances to all customers.
According to the annual report of the judiciary in 2019, the customer service counter transactions issued 10,016 criminal clearances, 1,854 traffic clearances, and 910 traffic history documents on Saipan.
On Tinian, the figures were 343 criminal clearances, 71 traffic clearances, and 13 traffic history documents.
On Rota, 391 criminal clearances and 46 traffic clearances were issued.
Also according to the 2019 annual report, there were 381 civil and 143 criminal cases filed in Superior Court while 572 family court including juvenile cases were filed in 2019.
In addition, 109 small claims and 4,704 traffic cases were filed in Superior Court in 2019.
The judiciary has been conducting court hearings outside of the main building since March 2018 due to mold infestation and air-conditioning malfunction.
The building also sustained major damage when Super Typhoon Yutu hit Saipan and Tinian in October 2018.
