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Court proceedings for Siliga Tulituli have been continued — again

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SILIGA TULITULI,CARL FILIAGA,COURT REPORT
reporters@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — District Court Judge Fiti Sunia wants to move forward with this matter, noting that Tulituli has been detained at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) since July this year.

"Let's get somewhere… one way or another," Sunia said, after asking counsels from both sides, about the status of the case.

According to an Immigration officer who appeared in court yesterday, Tulituli's immigration papers expired Sept. 29, 2016 and his sponsor, who lives in Nuuuli, is currently off island.

Defense attorney, Assistant Public Defender Anna Wells told the court her client wants to stay on island. Tulituli is married with two kids. When asked where his wife is from, Tulituli told the court his wife is from here. But the immigration officer intervened and clarified that the immigration office has no record of a marriage certificate.

"Oh, it's one of those kind of marriages," Sunia mumbled.

Tulituli was arrested earlier this year in August, charged with one count of public peace disturbance and third degree assault, both class A misdemeanors.

Since then, he has been in and out of court for status hearings.

He once told the court that his wife has already filed papers with the Immigration Office to renew his immigration status. But as of yesterday, nothing was on file with the Immigration Office.

Sunia ordered the matter to be set for another hearing on Dec. 27

He then told the attorneys that they need to "seriously consider" a detention center for those with immigration issues.

CARL FILIAGA

A hearing on the motion to set a trial date in the case between Carl Filiaga, and the ASG, DOE, and Diana Ameperosa is continued to Jan. 10, 2019.

Filiaga's legal counsel, Togiola Tulafono appeared in High Court this past Wednesday to argue that "we've waited almost two years" and the American Smoa Government has been "unresponsive".

According to Togiola, the US Department of Labor has advised him to move forward with the lawsuit, and all his client wants at this point, is to have a trial date set by the court.

But the government's attorney argued that mediation between the parties is better than taking up the court's resources.

Samoa News understands that a settlement has not been reached in this matter, and there is a separate — but similar case - involving Filiaga that is pending with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Chief Justice Michael Kruse has ordered that come Jan. 10, 2019, the court wants to hear a status on mediation.