Lualemaga v Schuster [2005] ASLawRp 55; 10 ASR3d 410 (24 October 2005)

OPINIONS

OF THE

LAND AND TITLES DIVISION

OF THE

HIGH COURT OF AMERICAN SAMOA

(2005)

SEMA F. LUALEMAGA,
Plaintiff,

v.

SALOTE SCHUSTER, OFFICE OF TERRITORIAL REGISTRAR,
Defendant.

High Court of American Samoa
Land and Titles Division

MT No. 04-05

October 24, 2005

[1] A motion for judgment on the pleadings in a matai title case will be granted where there is not a disputed claim under A.S.C.A. § 1.0409, nor a controversy over a title under A.S.C.A. § 43.0302, where the plaintiff's petition for declaratory relief does not come under A.S.C.A. § 43.1101, and where the plaintiff's petition is a dismissal/cancellation of a succession claim to a title such that due process demands that the person with the succession claim is a necessary party.

Before KRUSE, Chief Justice; SAGAPOLUTELE, Chief Associate Judge; and MAMEA, Associate Judge.

Counsel: For Plaintiff, Mark Ude
For Defendant, David Cassetty, Assistant Attorney General

ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS

[1] Motion for judgment on the pleadings is granted. First, this is not a "disputed [matai] claim" within the meaning of A.S.C.A. § 1.0409, nor a controver[s]y over [a] matai title[]" within the meaning of A.S.C.A. § 43.0302—the defendant Territorial Registrar is not a counter-claimant to the disputed matai title. Second, plaintiff's petition for declaratory relief does not come within the parameters of A.S.C.A. § 43.1101—"a declaration of . . . rights or duties with respect to another. . . ." Third, the net effect of plaintiff's petition is a dismissal/cancellation of Isameli A. Anae's succession claim to the Faleafaga/Aofaga matai title^[1] through collateral action. Accordingly, elementary due process would therefore demand that Isameli A. Anae be first given an opportunity to notice and the opportunity to be heard. In other words, he is a necessary party.^[2]

It is so ordered.

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^[1] We take judicial notice of the file in MT No. 03-03.

^[2] Given plaintiff's offer to register and Anae's counterclaim thereto, there is presumably a matai title dispute in the pipeline. Until such time as the Secretary of Samoan Affairs certifies an irreconcilable dispute under § 43.0302, the matter is not ripe for judicial determination.