A Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) decision Monday has allowed more time to file appeals from decisions of magistrates’ courts.
It ruled in favour of local hotel Sandy Lane, giving it leave to file again with the Court of Appeal in Barbados, and to have it heard expeditiously.
Attorney for Sandy Lane, Satcha Kissoon, called it “a great victory” since it finally cleared up a loose end that had affected appellants.
“This creates a great avenue for litigants who would have been appealing magistrates’ decisions. In the past the Court of Appeal had thrown out cases which were filed after seven days. They had declared they had no jurisdiction to extend the time for filing appeal, and could not consider any extension of time, and that was it,” he told the DAILY NATION.
“You now have 28 days based on the Civil Procedure Rules, and even if that is late, you can apply to the Court of Appeal for an extension of time.”
In the ruling, the CCJ admitted the appeal had raised important practical questions for lawyers, litigants and the judiciary in Barbados.
In the substantive case, three former Sandy Lane workers – Julian Cato, Charmaine Poyer and Wayne Johnson – contended the hotel had acted wrongfully by terminating them on the basis it could pay them salary in lieu of notice.
On September 24, 2014, Magistrate Barbara Cooke-Alleyne ruled Sandy Lane had acted wrongfully and that the employees were entitled to damages.
Sandy Lane gave notice of appeal and asked for a stay of execution of six weeks, which was granted.
The five-star West Coast resort wrote a letter to the magistrate informing her to take notice it was appealing and would require the court’s reasons in advance of settling its grounds of appeal.
The appeal filed by Sandy Lane came before the Court of Appeal on February 9 last year, and it raised the jurisdictional question of whether it could hear an appeal brought other than in accordance with the provisions of Section 240 of the Magistrates’ Court Act.
The Court of Appeal, which comprised Justices of Appeal Sandra Mason [now Governor General Dame Sandra Mason], Kaye Goodridge and Andrew Burgess, denied it because it had not been brought within the seven days mandated by Section 240. (BA)