Maya land rights case adjourned until June 10th
This morning Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh walked into a packed courtroom as Mayas from Toledo made the long-journey to Belize City for the first day of trial against the Government of Belize. And what a first day it turned out to be as attorney Lois Young for the government and Antoinette Moore for the Maya Leaders Alliance and Toledo Alcalde Association, went head to head on several issues. First up was the adjournment requested by Young… Moore felt that because G.O.B.’s counsel had already asked that the case be pushed from its original date of January twenty-seventh to February nineteenth, that she had already been given ample time. The C.J. himself had a problem with that decision, made between the lawyers without consulting the court and remarked that it was “most unsatisfactory the way the case has been handled by the attorneys”, especially when he heard that Young had not submitted her skeleton or made disclosure of her evidence to the claimants. While he understood that Young is busy with the number of cases she has, the CJ Conteh remarked that her schedule should not hold the court hostage.
In the end, the C.J. decided to hear applications so that some headway can be made. In her first application, Moore requested that twenty-two applicants, all alcaldes, be added to the claimants list. Young and Rodwell Williams, who is the attorney for interested party Francis Johnson, objected. According to the attorneys, the alcaldes are already represented by the Toledo Alcalde Association. But Conteh disagreed and using his discretion allowed the addition. Moore then moved on to request that portions of the defense be struck out on the basis that they had already been ventilated and ruled on in the initial case and that is would be improper for them to reargue as it would be akin to taking a second bite at the apple. On that matter, the C.J. felt that striking out portions of Young’s defense would hobble her at the gates and while some aspects of the defense may seek to re-agitate some issues, so be it. But one of the biggest arguments came when it was time to set a date of adjournment. Young says while she is not trying to delay the case, she hasn’t been able to file her skeleton as she has five appeals and has to defend against judgments in those cases. At this, the CJ told her that there should be a price to pay as it is an infraction of the court not to meet a deadline as disclosure should have been made one week before the start of trial. The C.J. then ordered Young to make disclosure within ten days. Young then told the court that she would not be able to meet deadlines for an adjournment date before June as she has a Court of Appeal hearing in March and will be leaving the country for medical attention in May. The C.J. eventually settled on June tenth, telling Young that her written submissions should be submitted seven days before the court date. Moore objected in court and afterwards told us that this new date will make it almost a year since the claim was originally filed, which is too long for a constitutional claim.
Antoinette Moore, Attorney for the Mayas
“That is in my view far, far too long in a constitutional claim.”
Kendra Griffith
“And on the argument that she has a lot on her plate?”
Antoinette Moore
“Well, I am sure that she does, but the government has other lawyers that they can rely upon. Ms. Lois can certainly tell them that I have too much on my plate and you must get someone else to handle the other matter or this matter, whichever is appropriate, but this matter should not be put at the bottom of the list. My clients have come up from Toledo and they are very, very upset. Litigation should be evenhanded, the rules are there for it to be evenhanded and in fact, my clients now feel that we are at a disadvantage. We don’t feel that we have an upper hand, we feel that we are at a disadvantage because we have filed everything and we have gotten essentially nothing back or very little back. We had a certain amount of time to file, they had a certain amount of time to file and now they have three extra months, four extra months and just as busy a lawyer for government is, so are other lawyers. It’s simply, as I said several times in the court, I think it was unfair for government’s lawyer to even ask for additional time. She ought to have filed her documents in time and prepare for trial on the date she proposed.”
Kendra Griffith
“Tell us about the decision to add twenty-two other persons as applicants.”
Antoinette Moore
“Those individuals are all alcaldes. They are newly elected, newly sworn in alcaldes. The previous alcades in all of the villages had resolved that this case should go forward and that the Toledo Alcaldes Association representing them and representing the Maya interest in the lands should be the claiming. But once it was raised that there was a problem that the government had or the interested party had with the Toledo Alcalde Association being the claimant, the alcaldes then said they’ll go on individually. And of course that is a very burdensome task to get affidavits from all the villages. We’re up to twenty-two now and I don’t think we’ll fine anymore but the Alcaldes wanted to be in name, a part of the case. It will make the heading of the case quite long, but it’s appropriate and the Chief Justice thought so too. There were are a good six areas of the defense that we attempted to strike, and the court, in its wisdom, chose not to do that and said it didn’t want to include the defense from being able to put forth any kind of defense and in truth those are the arguments you wouldn’t make in kind of case but they were made. They were made and the defense loss. So I would find it very curious if they make the arguments again, whether they make them better or they make them the same I would think that in front of the same sitting judge…”
