By Bryan Manabat
bryan@mvariety.com
Variety News Staff
SUPERIOR Court Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio has disqualified Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja — and the entire CNMI Superior Court bench — from hearing the long-running class-action lawsuit accusing Mobil Oil Mariana Islands, Inc. and Shell Marianas of gasoline price-fixing.
In a 22-page order issued Dec. 12, Judge Kim-Tenorio granted the oil companies’ motions seeking Naraja’s recusal under 1 CMC §§ 3308(a) and 3309(b). The court found that the plaintiffs’ newly expanded class definition now includes “all persons who purchased regular unleaded gasoline” in Saipan from 2005 to the present — a group that necessarily includes all Superior Court judges and their immediate families.
Because class membership in a case seeking monetary relief constitutes a disqualifying financial interest, Judge Kim-Tenorio ruled that Naraja is barred from presiding. She further held that the same conflict applies to every judge on the Superior Court.
“The Court finds that all judges of the Superior Court of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are disqualified from hearing this matter,” the order states.
The judge rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that the Rule of Necessity should allow Judge Naraja to remain on the case. That doctrine applies only when no lawful tribunal is available, she wrote, and the CNMI Constitution expressly authorizes the chief justice to appoint a pro tem judge from another jurisdiction.
The case will now be reassigned to an off-island judge.
Background
The lawsuit was first filed in 2010 by local residents Joey P. San Nicolas, Eulogio M. Sablan, Jose T. Limes, Jose P. Kiyoshi, and Felipe Q. Atalig, alleging that Mobil and Shell conspired to fix gasoline prices. The original class definition excluded government entities, attorneys of record, franchisees, and the presiding judge and their immediate family members.
The Superior Court dismissed the case in 2011, but the CNMI Supreme Court revived it in 2012 and sent it back for further proceedings. Since then, multiple judges have recused themselves — including Judge Joseph N. Camacho in 2013 and Judge Kenneth L. Govendo in 2024.
The latest dispute arose after the plaintiffs filed a revised class certification motion in October 2025 that removed all exclusions, broadening the class to nearly every gasoline consumer in Saipan over a 20-year period.
Mobil and Shell argued that this created an unavoidable conflict of interest for Judge Naraja and all other local judges. Judge Kim-Tenorio agreed.
A hearing on the recusal motions was held Nov. 21, 2025.
The case will continue once the chief justice appoints a qualified pro tem judge under Article IV, Section 9(d) of the CNMI Constitution.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
