Having heard arguments in the appeal filed by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo to the $20 million default judgment which had been imposed against him to pay former government minister Annette Ferguson, the Full Court has reserved its decision, which will be rendered at a date to be announced.
When the matter came up for hearing before acting Chief Justice Roxane George and Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry yesterday afternoon, lawyers on both sides reemphasised positions previously held.
The Full Court has granted a stay of the judgment of Justice Sandra Kurtzious, who found that Ferguson was defamed by Jagdeo, regarding certain statements he had made concerning her acquisition of land.
For his part, attorney Lyndon Amsterdam, who represents Ferguson, maintained that Jagdeo’s case has no real prospect of succeeding and has asked the Full Court to dismiss the appeal.
Attorney Devindra Kissoon, meanwhile, advanced that his client’s defence on the threshold of justification alone is enough to set aside the default judgment.
Amsterdam, however, argued that in accordance with case law and other legal authorities, it is a standard higher than a mere arguable defence which is required.
He submitted that “arguable defence” is not the same as a “real prospect of success,” and that the two cannot be equated. In the circumstances, the lawyer contended that Jagdeo has failed to satisfy the required standard.
Justice Kurtzious had previously imposed the default judgment against Jagdeo because he had failed to file his defence on time in the libel suit Ferguson brought against him.
He had filed an application seeking to set aside the judgment. Justice Kurtzious, however, threw out that application.
The Vice President is now hoping that the Full Court would set aside Justice Kurtzious’ ruling even as he continues to seek an avenue for an opportunity to file his defence, which he admits had been out of time.
Citing the grounds for his appeal, Jagdeo argues, among other things, that the judge erred in law and in fact by finding that the defences he advanced to Ferguson’s claim had no real prospects of succeeding.
In her ruling, Justice Kurtzious had said that contrary to advancements made by Kissoon, Ferguson’s application for a default judgment was well within the ambit of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) while noting that her attorney had satisfied the requirements for the grant thereunder.
Justice Kurtzious said she found the explanations proffered by Jagdeo for not complying with filing his defence within the 28-day time period specified by the CPR to have been wholly “unreasonable.”
Jagdeo’s excuse had been that both he and his then-attorney Anil Nandlall were busy with elections-related matters at the time.
The judge said she had also found that Jagdeo’s defence contained no real prospect of success.
On this point she had noted that the “prospect” needed not be “whimsical,” but “real.” Referencing a range of case law authorities, the judge had said, too, that it could not merely be based on an arguable defence either, but that there must be contemporaneous material, other documents and evidence substantiating the defences raised.
The judge said that finding there existed material which could have put Jagdeo on notice that the statements he uttered against Ferguson would have in fact amounted to defamation, his defences of fair comment, justification, qualified privilege and his use of the Defamation Act were all irrelevant.
She said that he did not seek to verify the truth of what he had said about Ferguson.
In those circumstances Justice Kurtzious affirmed her ruling granting Ferguson the $20 million award, stating that she stands to be prejudiced by suffering financial loss and injury to her character.
In January of last year, Ferguson filed a $60 million lawsuit against Jagdeo—the then Opposition Leader and the Guyana Times newspaper—over what she said were libelous statements made by the two, calculated to damage her character and reputation.
In her suit against Jagdeo, Ferguson sought damages in excess of $50,000,000 for libel she said he committed on two separate occasions—December 5th and 12th of 2019 for which she was asking for more than $25 million in damages for each occasion.
In her separate action against the Guyana Times which is still before the courts, the former minister is seeking damages in excess of $10 million against the news entity which she said had published the alleged libelous statements made against her by Jagdeo.
Ferguson had alleged that Jagdeo had made what she said were untrue statements regarding her acquisition of land.
