Jamalco plant in Clarendon. - File

Alcoa Minerals of Jamaica has been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay $28 million to two landowners for its failure to complete a 1995 agreement to provide seedlings to establish a forage for them to rear goats.

The landowners, Dr Albert Binger and his aunt, Ruth Lawrence (now deceased), had entered into an agreement with Alcoa in 1995 for its partner, Jamalco, to mine 18 acres of their land at Stewarton district, Clarendon. In exchange, Jamalco would give the landowners 60 acres of land at Whitney district, Clarendon, and provide a registered title for the land.

There was also an agreement for Jamalco to pay Lawrence the cost of establishing 14.5 acres of leucenia plants at Whitney to be used for forage. It was agreed between the parties that the Forestry Depart-ment was to recommend how densely the leucenia would be planted, but that recommendation was not obtained until after the trial had commenced in July last year.

The parties had also agreed that the land was to be returned to them after it was mined.

Dr Binger and Lawrence's estate filed a suit in 2006 alleging breach of contract against Alcoa for its failure to honour the agreement. Attorneys-at-law Maliaca Wong and Dale Palmer, instructed by Myers Fletcher and Gordon, argued that the claimants suffered loss of revenue because they were goat rearers and the leucenia plants were to be used as food for the goats on the farm.

Supreme Court Judge Carol Lawrence-Beswick found that Jamalco did not breach the contract because the contract remained unexecuted because of the failure of the Forestry Department to make a recommendation for over a decade while Jamalco enjoyed the benefit of mining the land.

Unchallenged evidence

The judge said there was unchallenged evidence from Dr Binger that he spent US$70,000 to establish the leucenia farm at Stewarton and was unable to obtain more funding to mitigate his loss at the Whitney farm.

Attorneys-at-law Kirk Anderson and Terri-Ann Lawson, instructed by Dunn Cox, who represented Alcoa, submitted that there was no dispute as to whether Jamalco owed the claimants the cost of establishing 14.5 acres of leucenia for forage. He said the dispute was to the actual cost of the establishment of the forage as well as to the other remedies sought.

Anderson also opposed the application for interest to be made at the commercial rate and the judge agreed.

Millions in payments

The judge ordered Alcoa to pay $8.8 million as establishment costs, which include the cost of the seedlings and $13.7 million as maintenance costs for the plants to Dr Binger and the estate of Ruth Lawrence. The parties agreed that Alcoa had previously paid $375,000 and the judge said the amount was to be deducted from the award. Alcoa was also ordered to pay damages of US$70,000 with interest to the claimants.

Alcoa has also been ordered to deliver to the claimants, a duplicate certificate of title in the names of Ruth Lawrence and Albert Binger as tenants in common for the 60 acres of land at Whitney.