Zhang

This case involves the proper application of principles of res judicata and the supplemental jurisdiction provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1367 . The case arises out of the rape of *1118 the plaintiff, Gui Juan Zhang, by defendant Captain Isidro T. Cabrera, of the CNMI Division of Immigration Services (“DIS”) in November 1996, while the plaintiff was in DIS custody. She was released in January 1997.

Zhang filed her complaint in the federal district court in March 1998 alleging federal claims of violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , the Violence Against Women Act, and also alleging negligence under CNMI law. She later amended her complaint to add a claim for an unlawful search and seizure in violation of the CNMI Constitution and a CNMI negligence claim based on respon-deat superior. For the CNMI law claims, the plaintiff invoked the supplemental jurisdiction of the district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367 . The parties do not dispute the complaint was filed well within both the state and federal statutes of limitations.

Pursuant to § 1367(c), the district court declined to exercise jurisdiction over the CNMI claims because they raised novel issues of commonwealth law that the…