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Sonoda v Burnett [1977] TTLawRp 6; 7 TTR 510 (25 April 1977)

7 TTR 510

JESUS A. SONODA, Appellant

v.

HAROLD W. BURNETT, Chief Justice, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, EDWARD E. JOHNSTON, High Commissioner, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and
TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS, Appellees

Civil Appeal No. 129

Appellate Division of the High Court

Mariana Islands District

April 25, 1977

Appeal following dismissal of complaint. The Appellate Division of the High Court, per curiam, affirmed dismissal.

1. Courts—High Court—Administrative Powers and Duties of Chief Justice

When disqualified from sitting in a case or participating in hearing and determining the case, the Chief Justice of the High Court continues to have administrative supervision of all courts in the territory, and he may assign a justice to hear the case, and may later reassign the case to another justice. (5 TTC §§ 201(3), 351)

2. Courts—Judges—Appointment

Appellate Division of the High Court will presume that public officials act properly and that the appointment of substitute judges is regular.
Before BROWN & WILLIAMS, Associate Justices
BENSON, Temporary Judge (Superior Court of Guam, Sitting by Designation) PER CURIAM

Plaintiff-appellant was appointed for a 3 year term as Associate Judge of the Mariana Islands District Court commencing August 2, 1971. He was not reappointed. He continued to serve until terminated by notice of November 7, 1974, effective November 11, 1974. Appellant sought an injunction against his removal, and damages. On motion of defendant-appellees, the complaint was dismissed and this appeal followed.

The court has considered every assignment of error.

None warrant reversal of the trial court, but one deserves discussion because of its serious nature and the care with which it has been considered by the court.

The file of the proceedings record the events.

The complaint was filed November 12, 1974. Paul J. Abbate, a temporary judge (See 5 TTC 203), on November 14, 1974 issued the prayed-for temporary restraining order and set November 25, 1974 for a hearing on a preliminary injunction. On December 2, 1974, Robert A. Hefner, Associate Justice, dissolved the temporary restraining order and denied appellant's prayer for a preliminary injunction. The appellees' motion to dismiss the complaint was heard December 6, 1974, and on December 11, 1974, Judge Hefner signed the order granting the motion and dismissing the complaint.

No assignment of judges appears in the record. In the briefs and the oral arguments both counsel have assumed as facts that Chief Justice Burnett assigned the case first to Judge Abbate and then to Judge Hefner. The record, as stated, is entirely silent on these assignments, and as to the reason for the second assignment.