Patrons of the Sea Shed Beach Club in Mullins, St Peter, will no longer be able to occupy the beach strip between the restaurant and the sea, following a May 28 High Court ruling against the establishment.
Leisure Properties (BVI), representing Royal Westmoreland, claimed it was the lawful owner of the land at Mullins and alleged that defendants representing the Sea Shed encroached and trespassed on the property from around 2018.
The suit charged that in doing so, the defendants partly destroyed the boundary fence and erected structures and items on the claimant’s land – specifically, a dining deck, stairs, a deejay booth attached to a tree and beach chairs for hire.
Justice Dr H. Patrick Wells ruled in favour of Leisure Properties.
“The defendants here did not merely stray over a boundary. They incorporated the claimant’s land into the customer-facing operation of Sea Shed, and into their business model, by using it for beach chairs, events, access, structures and presentation.
“They even continued after the complaint. The trespass was commercially advantageous and deliberate in its continuation. In those circumstances, an award of exemplary damages is justified to mark the court’s disapproval and to deter like conduct,” the judge stated.
Leisure Properties was awarded $308 000 in damages, with interest from date of service of the claim until the date of judgment, at three per cent per annum, and from the date of judgment until fully paid at six per cent interest.
They were also ordered to pay exemplary damages of $50 000 to the claimant, identified as chief executive officer of Coronation International Golf Limited (trading as Royal Westmoreland), Greg Schofield.
The Sea Shed, which has been in operation since 2018, specialises in dining by the sea and beachside lounging experiences. Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley was spotted there late last month dining with British-born actor Sir Idris Elba and his wife Lady Elba.
The DAILY NATION visited the location on Tuesday, where management declined to comment on the case. However, a notice placed at the entrance updated guests of the legal development which prevented the placement of furniture, or otherwise using it as part of the beach service between the restaurant and the sea.
It added that the team was actively working on practical solutions so that guests can continue to enjoy the restaurant and the beach in a respectful and lawful way.
Christopher Warren, director of Sand Bank Investments Inc. and one of the defendants named in the lawsuit, claimed that management at Sea Shed had come to a previous agreement with Leisure Properties on the use of the beach area and an agreed space.
He explained that they started renting Turtle’s Nest (which subsequently became Sea Shed) around 2018, renovated it and then commenced operations. Concrete steps leading west towards the sea from the building, onto the beach area, had already been constructed.
He said Sea Shed maintained the beach area on a daily basis. He recalled that when Hurricane Beryl caused damage to the entire western side of Lot 24 in 2024 and made the beach impassable, Sea Shed sought and obtained verbal permission from the Coastal Zone Management Unit to remove boulders that had been unearthed by the significant loss of sand and scattered across the extended beach area.
Those boulders were then used to build a retaining wall to protect the property, reduce further erosion and make the beach passable again. He also said Sea Shed had to rebuild a portion of the steps leading to the beach area.
Warren recalled a meeting with the claimant where they discussed working together to clean up the beach and try to reduce illicit drug activity at Mullins. That meeting, he added, was cordial, with no assertion of ownership over the beach area or extended beach area made by the claimant.
Warren said the agreement was that the claimant would place beach chairs and umbrellas up to the agreed mark and not place any south of that point where Sea Shed had placed its own chairs and umbrellas.
However, Schofield explained that Leisure Properties took ownership of the property in 2007, which at the time was occupied by Royal Westmoreland, Adrian’s Bar and Turtle’s Nest.
Royal Westmoreland began operating a bar and restaurant soon after, and over the years, it was contracted out to different people, including at one point Brian Gill, now one of the principals of Sea Shed, he added.
Schofield said that by 2022 he identified specific encroachments to the property by Sea Shed, as well as the removal of a fence. He said that at no point had he leased or otherwise licensed any of the defendants to occupy any part of the property or to conduct business there.
He stressed that Leisure Properties intended to use that section of the property as Royal Westmoreland Resort continued to grow, requiring more space for loungers.
Justice Wells ordered the defendants “to remove from the claimant’s land, all structures, items and installations constituting the trespass and encroachment, including any aspect of the dining deck, stairs, DJ booth, beach chairs, tables, umbrellas and related items, within 90 days.
They must also restore or reinstate the boundary separation between Lot 24 and the claimant’s property in accordance with the true boundary, within 90 days. Failing that, they will have to pay $5 000 in damages for the fence. (JRN)
