Caymanas Country Club residents secure retrial in dispute with highway developers

The Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial in the suit brought by 16 residents of Caymanas Country Club Estate in St Catherine who are contending that their properties were damaged during the construction of the North-South leg of Highway 2000.

Justice Calys Wiltshire had dismissed their claim in 2021 and the residents appealed.

On March 16, the Court of Appeal ruled that the judge erred in disallowing the appellants' use of their expert reports and in refusing the experts an opportunity to give evidence at the trial in the Supreme Court.

A retrial was ordered by the court. 

A date is now to be set for the hearing in the Supreme Court.

Attorney-at-law Khadine Dixon of the law firm Dixon and Associates Legal Practice is representing the  16 claimants.

The defendants are China Harbour Engineering Company Limited and Jamaica North South Highway Company Limited.

Dixon said today that four of the claimants appealed the Supreme Court ruling and she instructed King's Counsel Ian Wilkinson who was the lead attorney in the appeal.

The claimants are seeking compensation for nuisance and damage to their homes as a result of the blasting and road works which were commissioned by the defendants.

King's Counsel Maurice Manning and attorney-at-law Allyandra Thompson instructed by Nunes, Scholefield, Deleon & Co are representing the defendants.

-Barbara Gayle

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.