LPG Importers to Appeal Decision at the C.C.J.

Audrey Matura

The matter is going before the Caribbean Court of Justice in an expedited hearing, though a written judgment from the Court of Appeal has not been perfected.  According to attorney Audrey Matura, they are anticipating the written judgment in order to proceed with the case at the C.C.J.

Audrey Matura, Attorney for LPG Importers

“On Monday we filed our notice of appeal and on Tuesday we filed our expedited notice of appeal, meaning we wanted the matter to be heard expeditiously.  By Tuesday night we got word from the president via the registrar that we had to file our legal submissions supporting our notice of appeal at nine yesterday and the government attorneys filed theirs at two and by nine o’clock last night we got a decision.  The decision was basically that they will not grant us the appeal, that they will affirm the decision of the justice below but it’s not a unanimous decision which is a plus for us.  The three judges who sat on the matter, as president, Honorable Justice Sosa, he sided with the government.  Justice Haffiz sided with the arguments of the government and Justice Ducille sided with the arguments of the claimants.  So it was a split decision but majority being in favor of the government.  The written reasons, the reasoning that went behind their decision has not been handed down yet.  They did send us an email via the registrar because they never communicated with us directly, saying that the decision will sent at a later date.  I subsequently sent them a letter today through the registrar again indicating that we need that written decision promptly because we intend to appeal that decision to the Caribbean Court of Justice.  Right now time is of the essence for us, so although they said they affirm the decision below we do not know the reasoning that went behind it and we are looking forward to hearing it and we definitely look forward to hearing what’s the dissenting decision in the matter.”