Granted a stay of the default judgment for which damages were to be assessed and imposed against Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo for defaming former government minister Annette Ferguson, the assessment-hearing which had been set for last Wednesday did not come off.
In fact, Jagdeo who had filed an appeal to the judgment, was granted the interim stay on July 13th by acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire SC and Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry who will be hearing the appeal in the Full Court.
The stay which Jagdeo had requested, will remain in effect until his appeal has been fully heard and determined.
The appeal comes up for hearing on October 13th at 1:30.
Earlier this year, Justice Sandra Kurtzious had granted a $20M default judgment to Ferguson after Jagdeo had failed to file his defence on time, in a libel suit Ferguson had brought against him over certain statements he had made concerning her acquisition of land.
Jagdeo was Leader of the Opposition at the time he is said to have uttered the statements.
He had filed an application seeking to set aside the judgment. Justice Kurtzious, however, threw out that application and imposed $75,000 court costs against him and had set last Wednesday—July 28th—for hearing on a full assessment of the quantum of damages to be paid.
Through his attorney Devindra Kissoon, the VP argues among other things in his appeal to the Full Court that Justice Kurtzious erred in law and in fact by finding that the defences he advanced to Ferguson’s claim, had no real prospects of succeeding.
According to Jagdeo, the judge wrongly exercised her discretion and misapplied the law.
In her ruling, Justice Kurtzious had said that contrary to advancements made by Kissoon, Ferguson’s application for a default judgment was well within the ambit of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR); while noting that her attorney Lyndon Amsterdam had satisfied the requirements for the grant thereunder.
Justice Kurtzious said she found the explanations proffered by Jagdeo for not complying with filing his defence within the 28-day time period specified by the CPR, to have been wholly “unreasonable.”
Jagdeo’s excuse had been that both he and his then-attorney Anil Nandlall were busy with preparations for General and Regional Elections at the time.
In January of last year, Ferguson filed a $60M lawsuit against Jagdeo and the Guyana Times newspaper, over what she said were libelous statements made by the two, calculated to damage her character and reputation.
