CCC appeals ruling on IPI injunction request
The regulator has filed an appeal against an arbitration ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Northern Mariana Islands.- The Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) has filed a notice of appeal, against a court ruling that granted IPI a preliminary injunction preventing the regulator from revoking its casino licence. The appeal was made through assistant attorneys General Keisha Blaise and Alison Nelson,
In September, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona granted IPI’s motion to seek arbitration in its dispute with the CCC over its force majeure defence for non-payment of casino licence fees. She also granted IPI’s request for an injunction barring the CCC from conducting a withdrawal hearing.
According to Mariana’s Variety, Manglona said: “IPI must be allowed to arbitrate all disputes on the applicability of its force majeure defence to the allegations contained in the 2021 complaints, lest Section 25 of the CLA is deprived of any meaning.”
IPI previously requested a temporary restraining order to prevent the CCC from revocation its exclusive casino licence and the court also granted IPI’s motion.
The Casino Commission has recently asked for IPI to be declared not to have complied with a commission order. It added the operator now owes $25.3m. According to Keisha Blaise, CCC’s assistant attorney general, to date, the casino operator has not filed a stay with either the Superior Court or the Supreme Court on Commission Order 2021-002 so the order is enforceable.
Meanwhile, IPI’s receiver Clear Management Ltd has reported that Angel Playing Cards (APC) has repurchased 201 Super Angel Eye dealing shoes amounting to $301,500. Chief justice Ramona Manglona has approved the transaction and granted the request of attorney Michael White representing Clear Management to have the funds transferred and held in an escrow trust account.
