Pomare v. Pefu

5 Am. Samoa 3d 242
CourtHigh Court of American Samoa
DecidedSeptember 20, 2001
DocketLT No. 18-00
StatusPublished

This text of 5 Am. Samoa 3d 242 (Pomare v. Pefu) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering High Court of American Samoa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pomare v. Pefu, 5 Am. Samoa 3d 242 (amsamoa 2001).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

On November 20, 2000, plaintiffs Lila Pefu Pomare (“Lila”), Kaisara Pefu (“Kaisara”), and Asaua Fuimaono (“Asaua”) filed this action to enjoin defendant Anisi Pefu (“Anisi”) from completing the construction of a new building until the court can determine the parties’ rights in the underlying land. The complaint also seeks to void a trust agreement, executed by Pefu Fania (“Pefu”), which provides Anisi with control over the land; to require Anisi to restore about $18,000 of Pefu’s funds; to judicially recognize a deed of a portion of the land by Pefu to Asaua; and to divide the rest of the land among Pefu’s four children.

Pefu’s four children include two sons, Kaisara and Anisi, and two daughters, Lila and Rasela Pefu (“Rasela”). Asaua and Pefu also have a blood relationship — a brother of Pefu’s mother is Asaua’s grandfather.

A hearing was scheduled on December 7, 2000, on the Court’s order to Anisi to show cause why he should not be preliminarily enjoined pending the Court’s final decision in the action from further construction of the building, exercising ownership rights in the land, expending funds from sales of the land, and evicting Lila or her siblings from Pefu’s present [244]*244house on the land and the land. The hearing was postponed several times — to permit Anisi further time to obtain counsel, afford his counsel time to prepare, and accommodate hearing schedules — and was held on February 9, 2001, with the parties and their counsel present. During this interim, we enjoined Anisi from engaging in further construction of the building.

We heard testimony and received other evidence on February 9 and 12, March 12, and May 22, 2001. In the process, we invoked T.C.R.C.P. 65 and consolidated the hearing on the preliminary injunction application with the trial on the merits.

Discussion

A. T .and atTssne

The particular land at issue is a portion of approximately 8.898 acres, named “Mosooi,” located in the Village of Ili'ili, American Samoa. The 8.898 acres was the subject of extensive litigation between Pefu, his brother Sipili Atualevao (“Sipili”) and his nephew Atoa Atualevao (“Atoa”), Sipili’s son. The decisions in Fania v. Sipili, 14 A.S.R.2d 70 (Land & Titles Div. 1990) and LT No. 38-91 (Land & Titles Div. Oct. 21, 1992) (order on application for partition), are quite relevant to the present action. Thus, we take judicial notice of and begin by reviewing these past actions.

B. Previous Litigation

We first summarize the findings in Fania, 14 A.S.R.2d 70. Pefu began to clear a portion of the 8.898 acres in the 1950s. In the 1960s, Pefu permitted Sipili to go on the land, and Sipili and Atoa cultivated the cleared area. During Pefu’s absence on a missionary assignment to Swains Island from 1968 to 1973, Sipili and Atoa extended the cleared area. After Pefu’s return, conflicts arose over claims to the land but were temporarily resolved until Pefu initiated Fania in 1989.

Pefu surveyed 7.567 acres of the cleared land in 1975. Apparently, however, Sipili and the family sa'o (“head chief’) prevailed on him not to register the land. Then, in 1979, Sipili offered to register as his individually owned land his survey of 2.05 acres within the cleared land. Atoa objected, claiming that the land was communal land of Pefu, Sipili, and himself. Upon mediation at the Office of the Secretary of Samoan Affairs, it was agreed that Sipili would withdraw his registration offer, the land would be registered in the names of Pefu, Sipili, and Atoa, and then equally divided among the three of them. This agreement was not, however, carried out.

[245]*245Next, in 1981, Atoa attempted to register Pefii’s 1975 survey as his individually owned land. Sipili objected, complaining of his son’s disobedience and claiming that he cleared the land first. Again, after mediation at Samoan Affairs, the issue was settled by Atoa withdrawing his registration offer. Then, in’ 1983, Sipili offered to register as his individually owned land his survey of 8.67 acres of the cleared land. This time Pefu objected, citing his many years of working the land. He withdrew his objection, claiming that he and Sipili settled their differences, but allowed the title to be registered in Sipili’? name alone. In 1985, Sipili persuaded the Territorial Registrar to amend the registration to show that he and Atoa owned the land in common by misrepresenting that Atoa was an original co-applicant for the 1983 registration offer.

Pefu withdrew his objection to Sipili’s registration offer in 1983 with Atoa’s assurance that the 8.67 acres would be divided between Sipili, Atoa, and himself. He was-unaware of the amendment adding Atoa as an owner with Sipili. In fact, he continued to have free access to the land, constructed a house there with Sipili signing the building permit, and believed the three-way division of the land was in process. He did not discover the actual status of the land until he learned that Atoa was selling parcels of the land without his knowledge and consent. During a verbal altercation in 1989, Atoa told Pefu that Pefu had no interest in the land. Pefu then commenced Fania, 14 A.S.R.2d 70.

The Trial Court in Fania found that Sipili and Atoa fraudulently deprived Pefu of his title in the 8.67 acres and imposed a constructive trust on the proceeds from sales of the land and on the remaining acreage to correct the unjust enrichment resulting from the fraud. 14 ASR 2d at 76-77. The Court also permanently enjoined further sales of the land without Pefu’s consent, and directed the Territorial Registrar to reregister the title to the land in the names of Pefu, Sipili, and Atoa as tenants in common to reflect their original agreement on ownership. Id. The Appellate Division affirmed this decision. See generally Sipili v. Fania, 17 A.S.R.2d 96 (App. Div. 1990).

The Fania Trial Court left any division of the proceeds from the land sales and of the remaining land to Pefu,. Sipili, and Atoa. However, they failed to amicably settle these matters, and in 1991, Pefu commenced LT No. 39-91 to require partition-of the tenancy .in common. Lengthy efforts, including those promoted by the Court, still did not result in voluntary resolution of the issues. Thus, by order entered on October 21, 1997, the Court imposed a solution.’ Under this order, Pefu was awarded 2.647 acres of the cleared land. The full size of the cleared land was 8.898 acres under the survey then before the. Court. Sipili and Atoa were given the remaining land as tenants in common, subject to existing [246]*246encumbrances and other rights of third parties. In addition, Sipili and Atoa were held jointly and severally liable to Pefu in the sum of $18,032.80, plus 6% post-judgment interest, as Pefii’s share of the proceeds from the prior land sales. The parties were also ordered to obtain at their own expense legal descriptions for registration of their allotted parcels. The stage was then set for the current legal controversy.

C. Current: Controversy

In the first place, lacking a complete legal description, Pefu has never registered the 2.647 acres awarded to him. Likewise, Sipili and Atoa have not registered the portion awarded to them as tenants in common. This lack of proper follow-up, for whatever reasons, appears to be habitual of the parties to the present action as well as the feuding relatives in the earlier actions.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 Am. Samoa 3d 242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pomare-v-pefu-amsamoa-2001.