Jagdeo moves to Appeal Court to avoid paying Ferguson $20M

Jun 10, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – A notice for special leave at the Court of Appeal has been filed on behalf of Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo to challenge the Full Court’s decision to uphold the ruling made by High Court Judge, Sandra Kurtzious, that former Minister of Communities and Opposition Member of Parliament, Annette Ferguson, be awarded a $20 million default judgment.

Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo.

The notice of appeal follows a decision by Chief Justice Roxane George and Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry who in the Full Court were unable to reach a unanimous decision on the case resulting in the original judgment against Jagdeo being upheld.
Among other things, Jagdeo through his attorney, Devindra Kissoon, is seeking to appeal the court’s refusal to consider and grant an application to have the matter remitted to fresh judges in the Full Court. He is contending too that the CJ and Justice Sewnarine-Beharry erred in law by failing to issue directions, recall their divided judgment, and reassign the matter to a bench of the Full Court consisting of an odd number of judges, in light of the dissenting nature of the judgment which has resulted in an automatic reversion to Justice Kurtzious’s decision.

Opposition Member of Parliament, Annette Ferguson.

Last month a split decision by the Full Court has resulted in a default judgment against Jagdeo being upheld. The default appeal was granted against the VP, in favour of Ferguson over a defamation suit that she filed against him in 2020. Jagdeo had appealed to Full Court.
In May, Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire had ruled to dismiss the appeal filed by Jagdeo, while Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry ruled to allow the appeal. As a consequence, Jagdeo’s lawyer, Kissoon had requested and was granted a stay on the ruling for eight weeks to consult with the VP on a possible next move forward.
VP Jagdeo had moved to the Full Court in his bid to have the $20M default judgment awarded to former Housing Minister, and A Partnership National Unity +Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Member of Parliament, Annette Ferguson for libel, thrown out. Jagdeo lost the libel case to Ferguson, because of his failure to file his defence in keeping with the time limit and rules of the Court.
Ferguson had sued Jagdeo over some alleged slanderous statements, which he made about her owning house lots. The statements were published in the Guyana Times newspaper which Ferguson also sued. The case against the newspaper is still to be determined.
In the case against Jagdeo, a default judgment was granted by Justice Sandra Kurtzious in the sum of $20M to Ferguson, after he failed to defend the case. Justice Kurtzious recently reinforced her decision, but set a date to review at the $20M award with the intention of possibly reducing it. That hearing was set for July 28, 2021.
However, through his attorney, Jagdeo has approached the Full Court to ask that the decision be set aside and reversed in its entirety. He had asked the court to grant him leave to file his defence to the action within seven days of the date, and extending the relevant case management timelines to allow him to properly defend the claim.
Further, the Vice President sought an order declaring that Part 12 in particular Rule 12.02 of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) or Court rules violates Article 144(8) of the Constitution. According to documents seen by this newspaper, Jagdeo through his attorney alluded to a number of grounds in which the appeal to the Full Court is made. Among other things, he contends that the trial Judge erred by in law and in fact, by finding that he had no real prospect of defending the claim.
Jagdeo posited specifically that Justice Kurtzious erred and misdirected herself in law, by entering a default judgment against him without considering all of the grounds of his defence, including the defence of justification.