CHIEF Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI awarded James Whang, doing business as South Pacific Lumber Company or SPLC, an additional $499,242.33 in damages.
SPLC sued Imperial Pacific International LLC for non-payment of lease for a property in Lower Base.
The award comprises $431,861 in unpaid rent for the period between June 1, 2021 and Sept. 21, 2022, and $67,381.33 in interest, plus post-judgment interest and attorney’s fees.
Following a bench trial on Jan. 11, 2023, the court found IPI liable to SPLC for breach of contract and violations of the Holdover Tenancy Act.
Last year, the federal court granted SPLC’s motion for partial summary judgment and awarded SPLC partial judgment in the amount of $267,353 in damages plus post-judgment interest.
Judge Manglona said SPLC was entitled to rent due between March 2020 and May 2021, from the period in which IPI stopped paying rent and fees to when the lease agreement expired.
In her recent order, the judge directed the clerk of court to enter judgment in favor of James Whang, dba South Pacific Lumber Co., for the amount of $766,595.33 in damages for the period from March 2020 through Sept. 21, 2022, plus post-judgment interest at the federal rate established pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1961 and attorney’s fees.
The court has already determined that SPLC prevailed on its breach of contract claim for the period between March 2020 and May 2021.
SPLC sought damages pursuant to the Holdover Tenancy Act for unpaid rent, interest on those past due amounts, and double rent from June 2021 to September 2022.
The parties contested whether IPI was given access to vacate the premises, and if not, whether SPLC was entitled to any damages as a result.
Judge Manglona, in her ruling, found that IPI was not constructively evicted at any time, thus entitling SPLC damages under the Holdover Tenancy Act.
“While Mr. Whang did padlock one of the service doors, IPI at all times had access to the second and alternative access door. IPI cannot assert that it did not have access when the testimony reveals otherwise,” the judge said.
“IPI never made complaints about access which tends to show that SPLC’s intervention was not truly a constructive eviction; rather, IPI was always given access whenever requested. At most, the padlock that Mr. Whang put on one of the service doors was symbolic — a means to trigger IPI to begin paying its overdue balance. IPI was never actually or constructively evicted in light of its continued use and access to the Warehouse. Finding no constructive eviction, IPI became a holdover tenant when it failed to pay rent as required and demanded under the rental agreement, and failed to vacate the warehouse when SPLC demanded possession of the premises in July 2021,” the judge said.
Whang and SPLC, through attorney Colin Thompson, sued IPI for breach of contract, holdover tenancy, and unjust enrichment.
According to the complaint, IPI was the tenant of a commercial warehouse space identified as Building B and Building C on Lot No. 057 E 29 in Lower Base while the plaintiff was and is the owner of the leasehold interest of Lot No. 057 E 29.
IPI leased the premises from SPLC by execution of a lease agreement on May 8, 2015.
