No deal yet as Juliet Holness' firm, St Andrew woman continue fight for land

JAJ Development and Holdings, owned by developer Juliet Holness, says settlement talks with the St Andrew landowner it is suing are ongoing.

The company's attorney, Rose Bennett-Cooper, updated the court on Tuesday after both parties requested an adjournment on Monday to allow their experts to visit the disputed land.

She told presiding judge Justice David Batts that the visit occurred Tuesday morning and that discussions were still in progress.

"I do believe that that exercise will definitely bear some fruit; however, the fruit has not yet been born as at this moment... the parties will continue to talk," the attorney said. She suggested continuing the trial with her cross-examination of an expert witness for defendant Charlene Ashley.

Ashley’s attorney, Andre Moulton, agreed the trial should proceed while talks continue.

Earlier, a light moment arose when Holness and her team struggled to find seats in the cramped courtroom. Some space was available on the bench with Ashley and her husband.

"We're all good friends here, right? That's why the lawyers say 'my learned friend'," Batts said.

"Indeed, indeed," Bennett-Cooper replied, as a member of Holness’ team took a seat beside Ashley, followed by Holness.

JAJ sued Ashley, a marketing consultant, in 2020, seeking the splintered title for land where its $800-million incomplete apartment complex is located in Leas Flat, St Andrew. The company purchased Lot Two for $22 million in 2012, while Ashley lives on Lot One. Under the agreement, Ashley was to receive an apartment as partial payment and provide the splintered title, which was requested in October 2012.

Ashley, who has counter-sued JAJ for alleged trespass, argues she couldn't deliver the title due to subdivision issues and JAJ's delay in providing drawings, which were submitted in 2020. She also claims the subdivision would require removing her gateway.

Bennett-Cooper resumed cross-examining Timothy Thwaites, a commissioned land surveyor who prepared an expert report for Ashley in November 2022. He argued that an eight-metre wide access road could not fit on JAJ’s property without altering Ashley’s lot and gateway. Bennett-Cooper accused Thwaites of being "untruthful" in his assessment, which he denied.

Thwaites said he couldn’t confirm if a road seen running from Leas Flat to JAJ’s lot was intended for the apartment complex based on the proposed site plan.

"I will have to be careful with that designation because this is presented as a proposed site plan and has very different meaning to me than something presenting either a building plan or a proposed [subdivision layout]. I do not know the purpose of this drawing," he said, noting he received a copy of the proposed site plan when preparing his report.

When asked to clarify his reference to subdivision layout, Thwaites explained that "the documents to which I just made reference are very specific to a planning and building process. A proposed site plan can just be conceptual and the site plan in itself would not form part of a set of documents for building or subdivision".

However Bennett-Cooper noted that, in January when he was last in the witness box, Thwaites used the site plan to answer certain questions. She also sought to question him about boundaries for a property neighbouring JAJ's lot on the site plan.

But Thwaites found that challenging.

"I do not have any information as to the content of this ...proposed site plan," he said.

The lawyer however countered, "I'm asking what you see, sir."

"I do see it but I see a line and I see the text (words 'in' and 'out'). I do not know what they were intended to represent or if they are accurately represented on the plan.

Bennett-Cooper said that, in January, Thwaites said he had relied on the site plan to answer certain questions and pressed him on whether he recalled saying that Ashley’s gateway would be altered or removed based on the proposed access road on the site plan.

"I do," he replied.

She then asked, "So, to the extent that you happily relied on this proposed site plan to answer questions in relation to the extent to which it would interfere with the defendant's structures, how can you now tell this court that you do not have an appreciation for what it is and for what it represents?"

Thwaites responded, "I don't recall making any reliance on this plan to speak to any extent of disturbance of structures. I was asked a yes or no question and, based on the knowledge and information I have from conducting the investigation and measurements for my report, I was able to answer that question."

Bennett-Cooper read out his January responses and asked whether he would wish to change anything, to which he said, "I do not".

She then asserted that the proposed access road would not interfere with Ashley's gateway, to which he also disagreed.

In May last year, Ashley testified that from the "get-go", she and Holness discussed and agreed to an access road for the complex through a neighbouring lot, but JAJ's attorney denied any such agreement.

The trial continues today.

jovan.johnson@gleanerjm.com