Charles
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
THE DISPUTE between Member of Parliament Pearnel Charles and chairman of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Bruce Golding, who are both vying for the leadership of the JLP will be fully aired in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The JLP failed twice last week to get the courts to set aside a seven-day ex parte injunction granted to Charles last week Wednesday. The injunction barred the JLP from electing a leader at its annual conference which was scheduled for yesterday.
Mr. Charles is contending that more than 2,000 persons on the delegates' list were illegally added and it was on that basis he obtained the injunction. The JLP is challenging that claim.
When the JLP failed in its first attempt on Thursday afternoon to get Justice Donald McIntosh to overturn the restraining order he had granted to Charles on Wednesday in the Supreme Court, the JLP cancelled the conference.
However, on Friday, the JLP made a last-minute bid in the Court of Appeal to have the injunction set aside but the application was not heard.
After the application was filed in the Court of Appeal Registry by attorneys-at-law Patrick Atkinson and Clive Mullings, the file was sent to a judge in chambers.
Justice Algernon Smith, after reviewing the file, sent it back with an order outlining the reasons the application for permission to appeal "may not be considered at this time." The reasons were that the formal order of Justice McIntosh had not been exhibited and there was no indication that an application for permission to appeal was first made to the court below (Supreme Court) pursuant to the Court of Appeal Rules.
Last week Thursday Justice McIntosh said he did not have the jurisdiction to set aside the injunction because the respondents were required by law to give Mr. Charles three days clear notice of their intention to set aside the injunction. The lawyers said they had served Charles at 2:30 p.m. that day. They said Mr. Charles did not serve a copy of the court order on them and they had to go to the Supreme Court Registry to get copies of the order granting the injunction.
Mr. Charles had obtained the injunction after he filed an application contending that more than 2,000 persons on the delegates' list were illegally added. The respondents are challenging Mr. Charles' allegations.
A member of the legal team said by Wednesday Mr. Charles would have been given more than three clear days notice and so they will be returning to the Supreme Court on Wednesday to have the full hearing in chambers on the issue. The two parties will then be present at the hearing.
DISAPPOINTED
"I am disappointed that we have not had a chance to explain our position fully. My case is if you are seeking a remedy in equity you must show good faith and good faith will be shown by filing a motion in a more timely manner because that would have given us the opportunity to fully respond to it," attorney-at-law Patrick Atkinson said after Justice Smith said he could not hear the appeal. He said he and the other lawyers for the respondents were outside Justice McIntosh's chambers on Wednesday when Mr. Charles' application was being heard but could not go in. The sum total was that "up to now nobody has heard us." He said what they had was a situation where a document was filed so late that the court process was not opened to the respondents.
Respondents in Mr. Charles' motion are JLP Leader Edward Seaga, Mr. Golding and Karl Samuda, general secretary of the JLP. The application to set aside the injunction in the Supreme Court on Thursday was filed by attorney-at-law Delroy Chuck and was argued in chambers by attorneys-at-law Mr. Chuck, Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Mullings.
In the meantime, Mr. Seaga has written to the court saying he will be responding to the injunction granted against him but wished to do so separately from the other respondents. He disclosed in the letter submitted last week Friday that he was going to have his own lawyer but his lawyer was currently off the island and would not be back until today.
