By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterCHIEF JUSTICE Lensley Wolfe has ordered that the shares held by the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ) in Kingston Wharves should not be voted at an extraordinary general meeting of the public wharfing company scheduled for next week.
The ruling has further pushed back the meeting set for next Tuesday, February 25 because the ruling will be appealed.
The Chief Justice has granted a 14-day interim injunction to Grace, Kennedy & Company (Shipping) Ltd. and other Grace maritime interests, barring the Shipping Association of Jamaica Property from exercising any voting rights in the 15 per cent shares the SAJ holds in Kingston Wharves. The Chief Justice has granted permission for the Shipping Association of Jamaica Property to appeal his ruling.
Grace, which has 44 per cent shares in Kingston Wharves, had also sought an injunction to bar the Kingston Port Workers Superannuation Fund from voting but the Chief Justice dismissed the motion, paving the way for the trustees of the Port Workers Superannuation Fund to vote. KPSF has 15.8 per cent shares in Kingston Wharves.
Following the ruling yesterday, the parties agreed in court that the extraordinary general meeting should be further postponed until the completion of the proceedings between Grace and the Shipping Association of Jamaica Property.
Grace, Kennedy had also sought to bar Jamaica Fruit & Shipping Company, which has seven per cent shares in Kingston Wharves, from voting, but Grace withdrew the motion when the case came before the court on Monday. The Chief Justice then dismissed the motion.
There is a dispute concerning the title of the shares in the SAJ. The Chief Justice, in handing down his decision in the Supreme Court, said there were serious issues to be tried concerning the requirement that title in the shares should be vested in the trustees of the SAJ, who were Harry Maragh and Grantley Stephenson, in accordance with Section 8 of the Trade Union Act, which governs the operations of the SAJ. A full hearing into that issue is to take place in the Supreme Court in due course.
The trade union and other trustees of the Port Workers Superannuation Fund, referred to as the complaining trustees, sought to restrain other trustees from voting Kingston Wharves shares owned by the Superannuation Fund, on grounds of alleged breach of trust by Charles Johnson and others.
The Chief Justice said in his judgment that the real issue was between the complaining trustees and Charles Johnson and others. He said they had resigned as trustees and he felt that in the absence of evidence of collusion, their replacements should not be stopped from voting the shares held by the Superannuation Fund in Kingston Wharves. The judge refused to grant an injunction but granted the complaining trustees permission to appeal his ruling.
Grace, Kennedy was represented by John Vassell, Q.C., and attorneys-at-law Conrad George and Shena Stubbs, instructed by Hart Muirhead Fatta. The complaining trustees were represented by Lord Anthony Gifford, Q.C. and Conrad George, instructed by Hart Muirhead Fatta.
The respondent trustees of the Port Workers Superannuation Fund were represented by Hilary Phillips, Q.C. and Charles Piper, instructed by Piper and Samuda. The SAJ was represented by Pamela Benka Coker, Q.C., instructed by Myers Fletcher and Gordon. Jamaica Fruit & Shipping Company was represented by the law firm Livingston Alexander and Levy.
