THE federal court has dismissed without prejudice the lawsuits of Zaji Zajradhara against PC Bargain, and Commonwealth Covid-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program Administrator Epiphanio “Epi” Cabrera and CCERA employee Dana Calvo.
Without prejudice means the lawsuits can be refiled.
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona, in two separate issued rulings, granted Zajradhara’s request to pursue his claims without paying court fees, and allowed him to amend his lawsuits if he so wishes.
In Zajradhara’s lawsuit against PC Bargain, Judge Manglona dismissed without prejudice his entire First Amended Complaint that asserts a 42 U.S.C. §1981 claim, immigration violations claim, and failure to hire claim.
The judge directed him to file a second amended complaint correcting the deficiencies identified in his first amended complaint.
“Zajradhara must restate all necessary factual allegations, all claims against every defendant he intends to sue, and all remedies he seeks in the Second Amended Complaint if he chooses to file one,” the judge said.
Zajradhara was ordered to file the amended complaint no later than Sept. 25, 2022.
“Zajradhara is cautioned that his amended complaint must be a complete statement of his claims and will supersede existing pleadings,” the judge said.
Zajradhara has claimed discrimination based on race, national origin, religion, and color of skin in his lawsuit against PC Bargain in federal court and demanded an undetermined amount of damages.
He filed the lawsuit after receiving a dismissal and notice of rights from the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding his Civil Rights Act complaint dated June 11, 2022.
As to Zajradhara’s complaint against the CCERA administrator and employee, Judge Manglona stated that the complaint fails to state a claim on which relief can be granted. The court dismissed the complaint but with leave to amend.
Zajradhara, in his complaint against Cabrera and Calvo, claimed that the CNMI government: 1) is misusing, misdirecting, and/or misappropriating federal funds intended for recipients of the Commonwealth Covid-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program or CCERA; 2) is discriminating against him as evidenced by illegal actions it has taken against him in violation of § 1983; 3) overtly retaliated against him as a “minority American citizen” for “bringing attention to rampant visa fraud, misuse of the visa system, and illegal registering of CW-1 workers as business owners”; and 4) unjustly denied payment of his telephone and internet bills despite utilities being covered under the CCERA.
Zajradhara seeks relief in the form of: 1) an injunction compelling the CNMI government to pay “all CCERA rental unit telephone and internet” utility bills; 2) a cease-and-desist order against the CNMI government to stop harassing him; 3) an audit of all programs and funding uses under the CCERA; and 4) monetary damages for pain, suffering, inconvenience, and loss of income if the CNMI government does not respond in timely fashion and his telephone and internet services are disconnected.
He said he files this claim on behalf of himself and “the general public.”
But Zajradhara’s claims are dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim, while his other allegations are dismissed without prejudice for being frivolous, Judge Manglona said.
She said if plaintiff seeks to pursue his 42 U.S.C. § 2000d and § 1983 claims, he must file a First Amended Complaint no later than Sept. 19, 2022.
“Failure to do so may result in dismissal of this case,” the judge said. “In his First Amended Complaint, plaintiff must also allege facts regarding the named defendants if he seeks to establish any liability on them. As to his 42 U.S.C. § 6102 claim, he must first exhaust his administrative remedies prior to filing with this Court. Finally, given that there are no live claims and Defendants have not been served with any complaint, plaintiff’s motion for a default judgment is premature and therefore denied,” the judge added.
In September 2019, the CNMI Department of Labor-Administrative Hearing Office granted a motion for sanctions against Zajradhara over a labor complaint he filed against a restaurant for not hiring him as a waiter.
According to the hearing office, “It is an uncontroverted fact that [Zajradhara] has a history of filing many labor complaints.”
In March 2019, six House members introduced House Resolution 21-5 “to declare Zaji O. Zajradhara, formerly known as Steven Carl Farmer, a persona non-grata in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.”
According to the resolution, the Legislature is “cognizant of the malicious and ill-mannered actions of Zaji O. Zajradhara…in his filings of numerous labor claims against various businesses in the CNMI….”
Zaji Zajradhara
