High Court judge Fidela Corbin-Lincoln last month set aside a default judgment she had previously granted to engineer Charles Ceres and his wife, Ndibi Schwiers, owing to the failure of the Guyana Times to file a defence in the stipulated time in a libel suit they had brought against the newspaper.
Following the failure of the Times to file its defence to the lawsuit within the 28-day time frame stipulated by the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR), Justice Corbin-Lincoln had granted the judgment.
The Guyana Times would subsequently apply to have the judgment set aside.
Finding the likelihood of the defences it raised having prospects of succeeding, the judge was moved to set the default judgment aside.
Explaining the Court’s reason for recalling the judgment, the judge said that the Times denies publication of the alleged defamatory statements and raises several defences including justification.
On this point she said that a perusal of the publications in question for June 28th and 30th, 2019, do not contain the words complained of as set out in the statement of claim by Ceres and his wife; “at least not on those dates,” the judge noted.
Against this background, she said in her ruling it appears that the Times may have a real prospect of defending the claim—at least on that basis.
The judge said that in exercising her discretion, she also had regard to the overriding objective pursuant to CPR 1.02.
She noted it being clear on this point that if the judgment in default was not set aside then the Guyana Times would be unable to defend its claim.
In those circumstances the judge set aside the default judgment and had ordered the newspaper company to file its defence no later than June 10th of this year which its attorney Devindra Kissoon says has already been done.
The matter has been adjourned to August 24th for case management pursuant to trial.
In 2019 Ceres and Schwiers sued the Guyana Times as well as the Kaieteur News and then Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo each for $200 million over allegations made by the latter, which were reported by the newspapers.
Ceres contends that Jagdeo distorted the manner in which he had been allocated several parcels of land in the Canje Creek, Bohemia in Berbice, and at Liliendaal.
In response, Ceres provided documents to show that it was under the former Jagdeo government that he and three others were issued land in the Canje Creek in 2004, which has since been relinquished and that the land at Liliendaal was bought above market value and is being beneficially occupied.
“I paid $1, 000 per acre per year for the land in Canje Creek up to the time of relinquishment. I continue to pay $200,000 per acre/per year for the land in Liliendaal, which is being beneficially utilised as dictated by the terms of the lease,” Ceres had shared, while claiming that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) under Jagdeo, and former president Donald Ramotar, granted land to China Paper for $50 per acre per year.
Apart from the $200 million, Ceres by way of his suits is claiming exemplary and aggravated damages in addition to court costs.
