Enrique Agulto SANTOS; And Ignacia A. Santos, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. NANSAY MICRONESIA, INC., Defendant-Appellant

Nansay appeals a judgment following a jury trial in the Superior Court for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (“CNMI”), which judgment was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the CNMI. We dismiss the appeal for want of a substantial federal question.

This action was filed in the Superior Court after Enrique and Ignacia Santos discovered that they had been fraudulently induced to sign their real property over to their two sons, Jesus and Enrique, purportedly for tax purposes. Nansay and Jesus then entered a fifty-five year lease for Jesus’ half of the land. Subsequently, Nansay attempted to dedicate the entire piece of property to the Commonwealth government as wetland in a land exchange Nansay hoped would make possible the development of other land owned by Nansay but which was limited for development because of environmental restrictions.

The Santoses received none of the lease proceeds, and brought suit against Nansay and Jesus for restitution and damages, including punitive damages if restitution was not possible. During an earlier stage of the litigation the other son, Enrique, had recon-veyed his half interest in the property to his parents.

At the…