THE CNMI Superior Court set for Dec. 12, 2023, a motion hearing on the lawsuit filed by Star Marianas Air Inc. against Commonwealth Ports Authority after both parties filed motions to reconsider Associate Judge Joseph Camacho’s order granting in part and denying in part SMA’s motion for summary judgment.
In his order on Oct. 12, 2023, Camacho stated that all parties are ordered to appear at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 12, 2023, in Courtroom 220-A. He also required CPA to submit an opposition, if any, on or before Nov. 9, and SMA to submit a reply, if any, on or before Dec. 1, 2023.
On Oct. 11, CPA, through Attorney Robert T. Torres, filed a motion to reconsider Judge Camacho’s partial summary judgment, saying that the court should modify its order to reflect the following:
1) That, as a matter of law, CPA’s breaches of contract are immaterial breaches.
2) That, as a matter of law, SMA’s failure to pay CPA is a material breach of contract.
3) That SMA’s material breach of contract relieved CPA from its contractual obligations thereafter.
4) That SMA’s claims are limited to the time period of Dec. 2014 to Oct. 2021.
5) That CPA had no contractual duties to post-Feb. 2014 after SMA’s material breach of contract.
6) That the above, taken together, requires dismissal of all SMA’s claims.
On Oct. 12, SMA, through Attorney Mark Scoggins, filed a motion to reconsider, saying that the order denying partial summary judgment “is clearly erroneous in a few different ways, and that it is necessary for these errors to be corrected for this case to proceed efficiently.”
For example, Scoggins added, the court stated that the dispute concerns the interpretation of Section 7.01 of the Airline Use Agreement.
Scoggins said this is clearly erroneous as SMA has neither alleged nor argued that CPA breached Section 7.01.
On Sept. 27, 2023, Judge Camacho issued an order granting in part and denying in part SMA’s motion for summary judgment.
The judge found that CPA breached Sections 7.05 and 7.08 of the Airline Use Agreement pertaining to the annual usage rate adjustments.
Moreover, the judge said CPA failed to provide SMA a copy of every CPA annual budget from the time the Airline Use Agreement was executed until it was terminated.
But the judge said the court could not fully grant summary judgment because it found that damages could not be determined without further discovery. In addition, the court also found that CPA’s counterclaims to be true — that SMA’s nonpayments breached the agreement.
