Leocadio C. Mafnas v. The Superior Court of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands v. Marian Aldan-Pierce, Real-Party-In-Interest-Appellant

The appellant and real-party-in-interest, Aldan-Pierce, appeals the Northern Mariana Islands Supreme Court’s issuance of a writ of prohibition to the Northern Mariana Islands Superior Court instructing the trial court to disregard a mandate from the Appellate Division of the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.

I.

The procedural background to this case is confusing due to what appears to be a race between the parties to find a court that will hold in their favor. The relevant facts of this case were set forth by this court in Mafnas v. Dist. Court for Northern Mariana Islands, 919 F.2d 101 (9th Cir.1990). They are as follows:

Id. at 102.

After the dismissal of Mafnas’ appeal to this court and despite the pendency of Maf-nas’ appeal to the Commonwealth Supreme Court, the appellate division issued a mandate on April 16, 1990 which stated:

Id. On June 8, 1990, Mafnas petitioned the Commonwealth Supreme Court to issue a writ of prohibition to the Superior Court ordering it to disregard the appellate division’s mandate. This petition was granted on June 28, 1990.

On July 4, 1990, Mafnas filed a petition for writ of mandamus with this court to order the appellate…