GUYANA | Jagdeo says Failure to File a Defence Inadvertent- Wants CCJ to suspend Judgement in defamation Case.

GEORGETOWN, September 6, 2023 - Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is determined not to pay MP Annette Ferguson the 20-million dollars in damages and costs awarded to her by High Court Judge Justice Sandra Kurtzious’ for a case of libel which she brought against him.

Ms Ferguson had on January 9, 2020 filed a GY$25 million lawsuit for libel purportedly committed by Mr Jagdeo, as Opposition Leader, on December 5, 2019.

Hours after the Guyana Court of Appeal yesterday paved the way for the High Court to decide on the amount of damages that Bharrat Jagdeo has to pay for defaming former Housing Minister Annette Ferguson, he has moved to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) for the libel case to be reopened or struck out altogether.

Jagdeo, against whom the High Court issued a default judgment on March 11, 2023 because he had failed to lodge a defence, also wants the CCJ to suspend Justice Sandra Kurtzious’ award of damages and costs until the Trinidad-headquartered court hears his appeal. The High Court judge had awarded GY$20 million to Ms Ferguson.

A Demerara Waves Online News, report says Jagdeo is asking “the CCJ to set aside that default judgement and send back the case to the High Court. 

“In his Notice of Application to the CCJ,  Mr Jagdeo said his then lawyer and legal adviser to the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Anil Nandlall, had been so busy with court cases before and after the March 2, 2020 general elections,  political duties and the court itself had been closed for COVID, all resulting in the inadvertent failure to file a defence on or around February 25, 2020. 

“I made several inquiries about the filing of a defence, and at all times was under the mistaken impression that the matter had been attended to. I had no reason to believe otherwise, and had I known that the defence was not filed, I would have immediately taken steps to ensure that the proper application was made to the Court,” Jagdeo said.

The report went on to say that “Mr. Jagdeo, a former President and currently Vice President, sought to assure the CCJ that Mr Nandlall, now Guyana’s Attorney General, failure to file the defence was not due to neglect “but rather a combination of unusual and exceptional time sensitive circumstances relating to Guyana’s election, which caused counsel to fail to comply with the time limits established by the rules.”

“He said unknowing to him or his lawyer, Ms Ferguson on February 24, 2021 filed for a default judgment which was granted by Justice Kurtzious, awarding GY$20 million in damages and GY$75,000 in costs. 

“He said that was done, without conducting an assessment hearing, “depriving me of an opportunity to be heard at least as to damages.”

Mr Jagdeo blamed the High Court for breaching the civil procedure rules by failing to notify his lawyer of an impending default judgement so that the defence could have been filed, and cited Ms Ferguson for not notifying the High Court of an interlocutory case. 

“Separately, I have been informed by counsel and verily believe that I have a constitutional right to be notified of an application for a default judgment, which was not done. I believe it to be simply unfair that an applicant can secretly apply for a default judgment without
notification,” he added.