Back In Court! Restaurateur Appealing $286K Win Against Gov't

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(PLTM) - Restauranteur Mr. Glanville Penn is slated to be back before the court, appealing a March 2, 2017 judgement handed down by High Court Judge Gerhard Wallbank (QC) that ordered the Government of the Virgin Islands to pay him $286,796 plus legal costs in a long-standing legal battle over an alleged contract breach.

According to the preliminary list of the Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, the case is scheduled to be heard January 10 to 14 2022.

At the time of the initial court matter, Penn was seeking the sum of $4,426,511 plus legal costs from the Government but only received $286,796 as per the court order with a difference of $4,139,715.

The Government also had a counterclaim for unpaid rent in the amount of US$108,500, for a period from September 2002 to April 2005 at US$3,500 per month but that was dismissed by the court.

Notice To Cease Operations

Court documents informed that the matter stemmed from notice Penn received to end operations in one week via a letter dated March 2002 by the Government.

“The Claimant was not officially informed that he would have to cease his business at the old terminal until he received a letter from the relevant Ministry dated19 March 2002. The new building had been formally opened a few days earlier, on 7 March 2002,” the court documents state.

Court documents further point that the letter gave him notice that operations at the airport would transfer to the new terminal building.

"That in itself was not objectionable. However, and the Claimant was justifiably vexed about this, the letter told him that the terminal was going to close two days later on 21 March 2002 and that he had to remove his equipment within one week of the cessation of operations,” court documents state.

While he was given an apology for the short notice, “this was cold comfort,” the court document indicated.

Among the reasons for the court’s intervention was the short notice. The Claimant contended that he was entitled to not less than 24 months advance notice while the Government disagreed, stating that because he had an oral license only with rent being paid on a month-to-month basis he was not formally entitled to more than a month’s notice.

“The Claimant argues that the Government should have relocated his business to the new airport building and that it had, in fact, promised that it would do so, but that it did not. The Claimant appears to rely upon the reference to transfer of operations in the letter dated 19 March 2002 that his business was going to be moved over to the new terminal building, but that reference could also be read as referring to airport functions strictu sensu, which did not include ancillary private businesses such as the Claimant’s catering outlets. The Claimant also points out that the Government had relocated the other concessions to enable them to continue immediately without a break in their business, giving him a legitimate expectation of being treated similarly,” the court documents indicated.

Penn also claimed to have suffered a loss of income in an amount estimated at $1,125 per day as a result of being forced to close his business without proper notice and as a consequence of the Government’s failure to relocate him.

According to the judge, it was not clear what legal arrangement existed as none of the parties produced same in court.

In the end, the judge accepted Penn’s claim for his losses of $1,125 per day for 182.5 days which amounted to $205,312.50 and $70,424 for the loss of profits because the promised bar was not installed at the restaurant. A further $11,060 was given to Penn for a non-functioning dishwasher, which resulted in him having to hire dishwashers to get the job done.

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