“WE will certainly be going ahead with our pending appeal to the Civil Service Commission, which the court held was the proper forum for our case at this time,” attorney Joseph Horey said.
“No determination has yet been made regarding any other future steps we might take,” he added when asked whether his clients will appeal or transfer their lawsuit to the District Court for the NMI.
Horey represented the nine terminated firefighters who asked the Superior Court to issue an order declaring their terminations invalid and unlawful, and to set their terminations aside.
The plaintiffs also wanted the court to issue an injunctive relief, reinstate them as firefighters with back pay and cost of the suit.
On Monday, Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho denied the former firefighters’ request to be reinstated.
He said the plaintiffs, as civil service employees, have not exhausted their case with the Civil Service Commission.
He also said that a preliminary injunction is not a proper remedy for economic harm, and that the plaintiffs do not have a strong likelihood of success on the merits of any of their claims.
In addition, the judge said the public’s interest in protecting the health of the whole CNMI and preventing the spread of Covid-19 outweighs the privacy and other interests of the nine individual firefighters.
The plaintiffs are Paul Acebedo, Jose K. Angui, Allen T. Calvo, Cain C. Castro, Algernon A. Flores, Derek B. Gersonde, Shawn DLR. Kaipat, Philip Kalen, and Adam J. Safer.
They were terminated for insubordination following their refusal to take the Covid-19 vaccine as required by the CNMI Governor’s Directive 2021-002.
They named as defendants the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services and its commissioner, Dennis Mendiola, in his official and personal capacities.
The defendants are represented by Assistant Attorneys General Keith Chambers II and Abbi Novotny.
