Following repeated failed attempts to serve his $185 million libel lawsuit on Advisor to Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, former General Manager of the National Communications Net-work (NCN) Enrico Woolford is now seeking to have Ramsammy notified through newspaper advertisements.
In an urgent application before High Court Judge Damone Younge, Woolford who filed his suit against Ramsammy since February, is asking that efforts aimed at personal service be aborted, and that he be allowed instead to place advertisements in the Stabroek News.
In an effort to notify Ramsammy through this medium, Woolford is asking the judge to permit him to run the advertisement for two consecutive Saturdays in the Stabroek News.
Once allowed and the second notice is advertised, Woolford wants the judge to limit the time in which Ramsammy is to appear in court—to 14 days—and to have the published advertisement attached to court documents as proof of service.
Citing the grounds for his application, Woolford said that a number of attempts have been made to effect personal service on Ramsammy both at his home and office at the Ministry of Health where he works, but all were unsuccessful.
Attached as exhibits to court documents seen by this newspaper, are five returns of attempted service signed by various Marshals of the Supreme Court, who explained that their repeated attempts at service were futile.
The Marshals explained that whenever they visited, they had either got no answer at his residence, or were told that he was not at home or not in office.
According to Woolford who said he had accompanied the Marshals every time, Ramsammy continues to evade service “by refusing to respond or come out of his home or office.”
Woolford said that in the circumstances, personal service of his Statement of Claim on Ramsammy has never been effected. This inability he goes on to depose, has impeded the expeditious hearing of his matter.
Through his attorney Eusi Anderson, Woolford advances that the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) specifically provide for a Court to dispense with personal service where circumstances so warrant.
Back in February, Woolford filed the multi-million dollar lawsuit against Ramsammy—a former Minister of Health and the Guyana Times—where Ramsammy is a columnist.
In his statement of claim, Woolford (the Claimant) said that Ramsammy made certain libelous statements about him which were published in his column by the Times newspaper on March 18th, 2020.
The words complained of by Woolford are contained in the March 18th, 2020 publication of the Guyana Times, under the headline “Ramsammy’s Ruminations: Caricom, ABCE, Commonwealth, OAS – time for sanctions now, no more patience.”
Woolford said that the statements in controversy are false, malicious, defamatory and impugn his character and reputation.
He said that Ramsammy had brought his name into disrepute in his column without either him or the Times making any attempt at calling him before the publication, to exonerate himself.
The claimant has said that the article had also targeted and brought his “innocent” family into disrepute without any allegation ever being levelled against him.
The publication by the defendants, he said, has substantially hurt and diminished his image in the eyes and minds of the local, regional and international diplomatic and media fraternities, in which he said he had previously enjoyed an unblemished reputation spanning several decades.
The veteran broadcaster further said that the publication has resulted in serious injury to his reputation, credit, substantial loss of business and has made him subject to ridicule and lowered him in the estimation of right-thinking persons.
