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GUAM. In breaking news tonight, the Guam Superior Court has ruled that DFS Guam’s lawsuit which challenged alleged “wide-ranging misconduct” by Guam International Airport Authority (GIAA) and Lotte Duty Free Guam in connection with the Request for Proposal process for the duty free concession at A.B. Won Pat International Airport was neither frivolous nor without merit.
As reported, the lawsuit filed on 30 May, 2013, was dismissed initially by the Superior Court without prejudice on the basis that DFS had not exhausted its remedies under Guam procurement law and should have proceeded first to the Office of Public Accountability.
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In response to that ruling, both Lotte and GIAA filed motions in the Superior Court seeking sanctions and financial penalties on the basis that DFS’s claims were frivolous and without merit.
Today, the Guam Superior Court ruled that DFS’s lawsuit was not frivolous, nor filed for an improper purpose and that it did not raise unreasonable arguments, the company said in a statement issued through its attorneys Civille & Tang.
It read: “To the contrary, the Court reiterated that it too had concerns about the GIAA’s handling of DFS’s protests to the RFP, observing in particular that the GIAA appears to have failed in its “˜apparent administrative duty to impose the automatic stay mandated by Section 5424 of Title 5 of the Guam code’.”
Instead, DFS’s attorney said: “GIAA proceeded with the procurement and awarded the RFP to Lotte despite multiple protests to the procurement process by both DFS and James Richardson [one of the other bidders – Ed].”
Judge Michael J. Bordallo, who presided over the matter, rejected GIAA’s and Lotte’s arguments that DFS and its lawyers should be sanctioned for bringing the lawsuit, finding that this request was devoid of merit. He also rejected GIAA’s and Lotte’s efforts to expunge comments the Court made in its 19 July, 2013 order that were unfavourable to GIAA.
In response to their motions, the Court found the GIAA’s and Lotte’s arguments to be “legally unsupportable, inaccurate, speculative and unpersuasive”.
Based on Judge Bordallo’s ruling today, DFS said it “looks forward to pursuing the merits of its case before the Guam Office of Public Accountability”.
In the interests of balance and fairness, The Moodie Report has approached Lotte Duty Free for comment on the latest twist in this long-running saga.
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The Moodie Report Chairman Martin Moodie (left) and Lotte Guam Transition Director Gerry Perez at this week’s ACI-Asia Pacific Small and Emerging Airports Seminar in Guam, where Perez previewed some of the exciting retail concepts (pictured below) that Lotte Duty Free plans for the airport, including a major focus on Sense of Place |
COMMENT: Tonight’s news (Guam time) coincides with the closing of the impressive ACI Asia-Pacific Small and Emerging Airports Seminar (co-moderated by The Moodie Report Chairman Martin Moodie), which included an excellent address by Lotte Guam Transition Director Gerry Perez, who showed a film showing Lotte’s exciting plans for the airport, largely focused around an enhanced Sense of Place.
Both Lotte and DFS were in the room, and Perez in his presentation graciously praised the work of DFS down the years at the airport. But this is no longer a competitive battle between retailers. It is lawyer to lawyer and it may well run for some time. DFS, it is clear, is not going to let go of this contract, or its claims, easily.
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(Above and below) Lotte Duty Free plans a radically different look for the A.B. Won Pat International Airport stores. But it still has a legal battle on its hands. |
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