THE COURT of Appeal yesterday upheld a Supreme Court ruling that Kingston businessman Danhai Williams must demolish a boundary wall he built to the south-east corner of his neighbour's property at 17A Westmeade, Belgrade Heights, St. Andrew.
Williams and his wife, Nadine, will also have to pay Margaret Morris, his neighbour, $144,000 which was the cost to rebuild the wall and $7,500 for the surveyor's diagram. He is to pay interest of 10 per cent on the award from May 1993 to the date of the judgment. Mrs Morris was awarded $100,000 in general damages for the inconvenience, annoyance and distress the conduct of the defendants caused her. The interest on the general damages is at ten per cent from December 1990.
Mrs. Morris sued the defendants contending Mr. Williams had asked her to sell him a strip of land where she had her boundary wall. She refused to sell it to him and in 1990 he demolished her boundary wall, despite her husband's plea not to do so. After he demolished it, he built a wall which constituted an encroachment on her property.
Mr. Justice Algernon Smith heard evidence in the suit in February 1998 and ruled in Morris' favour. The defendants did not attend and were also unrepresented at the hearing.
After the judgment was handed down, the defendants applied to the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment on the ground their lawyer had informed them the court file could not be found. They said they only knew the case was disposed of when they read about it in the newspaper. They contended they had a good defence to the suit. Mr. Justice Lloyd Ellis set aside the judgment in July 1998.
Mrs. Morris, who was represented by attorneys-at-law Ian Wilkinson and Shawn Stedman, took the case to the Court of Appeal contending Mr. Justice Ellis erred in ruling in essence that the defendants had a good and arguable defence to the action. The lawyers said the defence did not disclose any real prospect of success and was consequently not a good and arguable defence.
The defendants did not appear at the hearing in the court of Appeal yesterday and were not represented.
The Court of Appeal, comprising Mr. Justice Ian Forte, President of the Court of Appeal, Mr. Justice Clarence Walker and Mr. Justice Howard Cooke, heard the appeal and restored Mr. Justice Smith's judgment
