Jamaica International Insurance Co Ltd v the Admin General for ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

interlocutory and she found the evidence truthful, it wasaccepted. Also the applicant was aware of the potentialclaim on behalf of the estate for some time, havingentered into discussions for settlement with attorneys onbehalf of Miss Monteith shortly after the accident, andlater with attorneys representing the applicant.(iii) In her view, the likelihood of success of the respondent’sclaim was high, and conversely, the likelihood or prospectof success of any defence of Mr Williams was “almostnon-existent”. In her opinion, “There is no dispute thathe was convicted of manslaughter as a result of the saidmotor vehicle accident which led to the demise of RohanWiggans. Liability does not seem to be an issue in thecase….”The application in this court[27] The order of Master George was interlocutory in nature and permission to appealwas granted by her. However, no appeal was filed within seven or 14 days as requiredby the CAR. In fact, the notice of application to extend the time to file the notice ofappeal was not filed until 9 February 2012. There were three affidavits filed in supportof the application: all by attorneys namely, Trevor Patterson, partner of the law firmof Patterson, Mair, Hamilton, and Jeffrey Mordecai, both sworn to on 9 February 2012,and Treveen Little, legal officer for the applicant, sworn to on 2 May 2012.
[28] Mr Patterson’s explanation for the delay was that he had received a telephonerequest from Mr Mordecai for an opinion with regard to several legal issues, the mostimportant of which was: when did a cause of action accrue for the benefit of an estateunder the LRMPA?Was it the date of the grant of the letters of administration or thedate of the accident/death? He expected correspondence confirming the request for theopinion to follow this conversation, and it did. However, when the letter dated 2 June2011 came with all its enclosures, he said that as he had been expecting it, he merelyglanced at the letter, confirming that it related to the subject matter about which theyhad spoken. He did not read the entire letter and therefore was unaware that MrMordecai was not only requesting an opinion on the law but on the issue of whether topursue an appeal on behalf of the applicant, and that if that was advised, he wasrequesting Mr Patterson’s firm to proceed to protect the interests of the applicantaccordingly.[29] That request was couched in the third to last paragraph, on the last page of thefour page letter sent by Mr Mordecai. The letter enclosed a full and comprehensive briefincluding the claim form and particulars of claim, the submissions in the court below,the master’s reasons for judgment and several authorities that the writer thoughtrelevant for Mr Patterson’s deliberations. Despite some subsequent queries from MrMordecai to Mr Patterson for a response, as Mr Patterson was travelling in connectionwith various matters and was under, as he described, immense pressure of work, thoseitems of correspondence appeared to have gone unnoticed. In his affidavit, Mr
Page 1 and 2: [2013] JMCA App 2JAMAICAIN THE COUR
Page 3 and 4: This application was supported by t
Page 5 and 6: [7] This application was supported
Page 7 and 8: seen a motor vehicle approaching th
Page 9 and 10: Morgan had been denied by the court
Page 11 and 12: The contrary position, from the app
Page 13 and 14: of manslaughter for the death of th
Page 15: concluded that the prejudice agains
Page 19 and 20: y Messrs Samuda and Johnson and tha
Page 21 and 22: Keith Williams v Attorney General (
Page 23 and 24: namely 12 months, as the applicatio
Page 25 and 26: supported by evidence on affidavit.
Page 27 and 28: [44] In my opinion, this appeared t
Page 29 and 30: form. Counsel for the applicant als
Page 31 and 32: claim form for service had been fil
Page 33: endeavour to protect their interest

Jamaica International Insurance Co Ltd v the Admin General for ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?