GUAM
The Guam Daily Post
Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post May 3, 2017
Suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s attorney, Jacqueline Terlaje stated her objection to the court’s decision to allow prosecutor David Lujan to attempt to fix the jurisdictional problems of his cases by a single filing, rather than amend each and every one of his 45 cases filed in Guam’s federal court.
Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan began yesterday’s scheduling conference by discussing the issues shared in all the child sexual abuse cases pending before the court.
According to Manibusan, the problem lies in language in the complaints, which allege that plaintiffs and defendants are “residents” of different places. The residency of the parties is not enough to establish what he termed “diversity jurisdiction” – the jurisdiction of Guam’s federal court to hear the cases on the grounds that the parties are citizens of different locations.
According to Post files, Manibusan brought up this same issue during a previous hearing held last week on the first six cases to come before him for a scheduling conference. During that hearing, Manibusan ordered a pause on all motions and further proceedings in all the other cases until the issue of jurisdiction can be resolved.
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