Multimillion-dollar award from Christmas Eve crash shocks former couple

A 2019 telephone call from the company that insured their motor car opened a Pandora’s Box for former couple Petrena Newland and Jim Hosang.

The car, which was registered to Newland, was involved in a Christmas Eve crash along the Drax Hall main road in St Ann, in 2014, in which a pedal cyclist, Courtney Harris, claimed that he sustained injuries.

Hosang, her husband at the time, was the driver.

But it was during the 2019 telephone call from a representative of Advantage General Insurance Company that Newland found out that she and her ex-husband had been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay the pedal cyclist nearly $2.5 million in damages, they claimed in court documents.

Court records reviewed by The Sunday Gleaner show that final judgment in the amount of $2.4 million for general damages and $25,430 for special damages plus interest was entered on July 7, 2018 following an assessment of damages hearing in a lawsuit Harris filed against the former couple.

“Judgment in default of acknowledgement of service” against both defendants was filed on June 28, 2016; two months after the pedal cyclist filed his claim form with “prescribed accompanying documents”, the records show.

The final judgment was entered in the absence of the former couple and without them having an opportunity to defend the claim, the court said.

A judge also granted an order for the seizure and sale of their personal items to satisfy the court-ordered payment.

HOLES IN STATEMENT

The default judgment was based on a sworn affidavit provided by Andrew Scott, a 15-year process server, in which he indicated that he served a “true copy” of the originating documents in Harris’ claim on “Patricia O. Newland” and Hosang in Steer Town, St Ann, on May 13, 2016 at 5:29 p.m.

Scott acknowledged that Newland and Hosang were not previously known to him, but claimed that when he visited the “given address”, they both confirmed their identities and accepted service of the documents.

Process servers Paul Wong and Steevie Smith gave affidavits “proving” that the default judgment, witness statements and other documents related to the assessment of damages hearing were served on Newland and Hosang, according to court records.

The former couple denied claims that they were served documents by Wong and Smith, who did not present themselves for cross-examination.

Their affidavits were not included in evidence.

Newland and Hosang also poked holes in Scott’s account in an application they filed asking the Supreme Court to set aside the default judgement; the multimillion-dollar damages awarded to the pedal cyclist and other related proceedings; as well as a stay of execution of the final judgment.

As an example, Hosang, a Canadian citizen, said he returned home days after the Christmas Eve 2014 crash and was not in Jamaica on May 13, 2016 when Scott claimed he personally served documents related to Harris’ lawsuit.

He also displayed a copy of official correspondence from the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency detailing his travel history since 2014, “as taken from Jamaica’s Border Management System”.

Hosang indicated, too, that he does not reside at Steer Town and “never has”. He acknowledged that Newland resides in Steer Town with their daughter, but said because they no longer had a good relationship, he would stay in the Drax Hall area when he visited Jamaica.

Newland noted that her name was “Petrena” and not “Patricia”, as indicated in Scott’s affidavit. She said had she been approached and referred to as “Patricia” Newland by anyone, she would not have acknowledged that person.

Further, Newland claimed that Scott could not have served her any court document at 5:29 p.m. that day, because it was the norm for her to be at her business place in St Ann’s Bay from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day except Sundays.

JUDGE REJECTS ACCOUNT

In a second affidavit responding to the assertions by the former couple, Scott said he was “not in a position to claim that the 2nd defendant [Hosang] was in Canada at that time”.

The veteran process server said when he went to serve the documents, he saw a man who was of “medium built, [and] appeared to be in his late forties”. According to him, the man had “facial hair and was of light complexion”.

He said he asked the man if his name was Jim Hosang and he replied “yes” before admitting that he knew about the accident and “willingly accepted the documents”.

Further, Scott claimed that he enquired of Newland whether she was ‘Patricia’ and she “acknowledged that her name was Newland” and “willingly” accepted the documents.

He acknowledged, during cross-examination, that this was not included in his first affidavit.

But Scott’s account was rejected by the judge presiding over the application by the former couple who said she did not find him “to be a witness of truth”.

“I am of the view that the defendants have satisfied the burden of proving that on a balance of probabilities they were not served with the originating documents,” the judge concluded.

“In the circumstances, I, therefore, make the following orders: The default judgment entered on 28 June 2016 and all proceedings flowing therefrom are set aside,” the judge said in her decision, which was handed down last month.

The ruling means that Newland and Hosang, who have insisted that they were not at fault in the crash, will now have a chance to defend the lawsuit filed by the pedal cyclist.

It’s unclear when the lawsuit will be heard.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com