A Guam Superior Court judge has ruled that the Science is Fun and Awesome Learning Academy Charter School is not a Guam government and does not have immunity in the $5 million back rent case.

Eagle Land Holdings LLC, which owns the property in Tiyan where SIFA operates a middle school, filed the lawsuit in April of this year in an initial attempt to “evict” SIFA from the property and recover $1,576,133.33 in unpaid rent from the 1 April 2023, to February 29, 2024, according to the court order regarding state immunity.

SIFA has occupied the premises since opening in 2017 under the Partnership for Learning Support in Education through Leasing, Tools, Supplies and Services, also known as the ‘PLEASE contract’. According to Eagle Land Holdings, that contract expired on June 30, 2023. However, the charter school remained on the property as a “remaining tenant,” according to the decision.

“On February 7, 2024, Eagle Land Holdings gave written notice to terminate the tenancy and demanded that SIFA vacate within 30 days. … Eagle Land Holdings also demanded over $4 million in arrears, including more than $1 million for unpaid rent incurred after June 30, 2023. However, SIFA has neither submitted nor paid these amounts, the complaint said.

A July 2 wrongful-custody hearing was scheduled to take the matter before Judge Jonathan Quan. However, it did not go ahead as the court’s jurisdiction was challenged by SIFA.

“SIFA argued that it is an entity within the government of Guam and therefore has the right to claim state immunity,” Quan said. “SIFA argued that because Eagle Land Holdings did not file a claim under the Government Claims Act prior to the filing of this suit, SIFA’s governmental immunity has not been waived.”

While Eagle Land Holdings had noted in its application to the court that it could provide “sufficient evidence” to establish that it is a government agency, Quan’s ruling strikes down the claim, saying: “The court is not convinced that SIFA is a government entity . “

Quan’s decision first looks at the Government Claims Act and how Guam’s government is defined. One issue that arose is that the language of the law does not clearly define a classification for charter schools.

“The Court concludes here and concludes that an entity is within the Government of Guam within the meaning of the Government Claims Act only if the entity is properly classified as an agency, department, instrumentality, public corporation, or other entity of the Government.” the ruling said, adding that the act is “largely inclusive”.

Quan said the Guam Academy Charter Schools Act of 2009 “is silent on the classification of charter schools.”

“The words ‘agency’, ‘instrumentality’ and ‘corporation’ do not appear anywhere in the statute. The word ‘department’ appears only in reference to the Guam Department of Education, which is unquestionably a governmental entity,” the ruling said, emphasizing that the reference to the GDOE was to “show the difference not the similarity between charter schools and the GDOE.”

Only one possibility remained, the “other entity” category, but Quan found a problem – SIFA also did not fit the bill for inclusion in this category.

“Nothing in (The Guam Academy Charter School Act of 2009) expressly designates charter schools as any kind of governmental ‘entity,’ indicating that the legislature did not intend to confer that status,” the judge said. “This is neither surprising nor unreasonable, given that SIFA’s relationship with the Government of Guam is not permanent.”

He noted that charter schools are given a six-year charter designation and are subject to review and revocation if certain criteria are not met, such as student performance or financial non-viability, among others.

According to Quan, SIFA’s funding structure testimony did not back up its claim as a government agency, but instead merely established that it is funded by GovGuam.

“The mere fact that SIFA receives government funding does not establish it as a government entity – otherwise many government contractors could make a similar claim to be government entities,” Quan said.

The judge also noted that he was confused as to how SIFA could be represented by attorney Michael Phillips, a private attorney, if it was a government agency.

“In Guam, the Attorney General is required to ‘proceed all civil actions on behalf of the Government of Guam in which the Government is an interested party, provided that those branches, departments or agencies authorized to employ their own legal counsel may use them in lieu of the Attorney General,'” said the judge.

“If SIFA were part of the Government of Guam, then the Government would undoubtedly be an interested party in this action, as it is seeking millions of dollars in financial damages that could potentially be paid through the Treasury,” he added.

In addition to asserting the court’s jurisdiction, Quan’s analysis of the case resulted in the conclusion that SIFA is not an agency, department, instrumentality, public corporation, or other entity of the Government of Guam and, because of this, is not applicable to coverage under the Government Claims Act, meaning that the case will continue at 3pm on Wednesday.