Current cases

Current cases

Cases only appear here a few weeks before the appeal is due to be heard by the JCPC.

The Current cases table below can be sorted either in ascending or descending order by clicking on the following title headings:

  • Case ID
  • Case name
  • Jurisdiction

Current cases can also be found by using the search engine below:

Current cases
Case ID Case name Jurisdiction Case summary - Issue
JCPC 2022/0109 Ramsbury Properties Ltd (Appellant) v Oceanview Construction Ltd (Respondent) (St Christopher and Nevis) Court of Appeal of St Christopher and Nevis Whether the appellant complied with the terms of the lease between the parties.
JCPC 2020/0078 Frederick Donowa and 3 others (Appellants) v Donridge Heights Ltd (Respondent) (Trinidad and Tobago) Court of Appeal of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Whether the relevant contract was one between a principal and agent or a contract of sale and resale? If the contract was between a principal and agent, did the agent exceed its authority when it entered into various agreements to sell certain land? If the agent did exceed its authority, were the agent's actions ratified by the principals?
JCPC 2022/0084 Claude Gerald (Appellant) v Herman Sergeant and another (Respondents) (Montserrat) Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Montserrat)
  1. Was the Appellant's constitutional right to freedom of expression contravened?
  2. If there was an unconstitutional contravention of the Appellant's right to freedom of expression, what remedies is he entitled to?
JCPC 2023/0010 Ervin Dean (Appellant) v Bahamas Power & Light (Respondent) (Bahamas) Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas [To be added in due course]
JCPC 2023/0031 Estate Management and Business Development Company Ltd (Appellant) v Junior Sammy Contractors Ltd (Respondent) (Trinidad and Tobago) Court of Appeal of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago [To be added in due course]
JCPC 2023/0007 Director of Public Prosecutions (Appellant) v Chris Durham also called Bouye (deceased) and 2 others (Respondents) (Trinidad and Tobago) Court of Appeal of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Did the Court of Appeal err in:
  1. failing to apply the established case law & principles in relation to the Respondent's challenge of the DPP's decision to continue the prosecution and/or in relation to whether the criminal trial judge had sufficient and appropriate tools to deal with the Respondents' complaints;
  2. concluding that the DPP's decision to allow the criminal trial process to deal with the Respondent's complaints was so exceptional as to be reviewable on the grounds of irrationality and/or abuse of process;
  3. concluding that it was unnecessary to the High Court's reasoning to make a finding that the DPP's sole eyewitness had committed perjury; and
  4. concluding that the High Court was correct to have granted leave for judicial review.
JCPC 2023/0042 Louis Andrew Monteil (Appellant) v Board of Inland Revenue (Respondent) (Trinidad and Tobago) Court of Appeal of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago [To be added in due course]
JCPC 2022/0054 Methanex Trinidad (Titan) Unlimited (Appellant) v The Board of Inland Revenue (Respondent) (Trinidad and Tobago) Court of Appeal of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago [To be added in due course]
JCPC 2018/0108 Anton Bastian (Appellant) v The King (Respondent) (Bahamas) Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas The main issues are: (i) whether the Court of Appeal wrongly considered only two out of Bastian's twelve grounds of appeal; (ii) whether the evidence was sufficient to convict Bastian; and (iii) whether Bastian was prejudiced by a joint trial, which presented the jury with evidence which was not admissible against him.
JCPC 2022/0050 Zachary Da Silva (Appellant) v Licensing Authority of Trinidad & Tobago and another (Respondents) (Trinidad and Tobago) Court of Appeal of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago [To be added in due course]
JCPC 2023/0055 Sian Participation Corp (In Liquidation) (Appellant) v Halimeda International Ltd (Respondent) (Virgin Islands) Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (British Virgin Islands) [To be added in due course]
JCPC 2023/0002 Tianrui (International) Holding Company Ltd (Appellant) v China Shanshui Cement Group Ltd (Respondent) (Cayman Islands) Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands Whether a minority shareholder has standing to bring a personal claim against a company where the board of directors of that company had allegedly exercised their powers to issue and allot shares for the improper purpose of diluting the shareholding of the minority shareholder.
JCPC 2023/0070 Eco-Sud and two others (Respondents) v Minister of Environment, Solid Waste and Climate Change and another (Appellants) (Mauritius) Supreme Court of Mauritius [ To be added in due course]
JCPC 2022/0043 The Special Tribunal (Appellant) v The Estate Police Association (Respondent) (Trinidad and Tobago) Court of Appeal of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago [To be added in due course]
JCPC 2021/0114 All Saints Spring Park Parochial Church Council v the Church Schemes of the Church Commissioners under Pastoral Measure 1983 Whether, when deciding that a scheme for the dissolution and division of a parish in the Diocese of Southwark should proceed, the Church Commissioners wrongly:
  1. failed to consider whether the scheme gave rise to indirect discrimination, contrary to articles 8 and 9 of the Convention, read with article 14, insofar as the scheme would deprive a BAME-majority congregation of a BAME-led ministry;
  2. failed to have due regard to the public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010;
  3. failed to consider the relevance of race inequality to the scheme's purpose, namely to make better provision for "the cure of souls"; and
  4. wrongly used the scheme to penalise the incumbent reverend for perceived mismanagement.
JCPC 2021/0109 Candace Hoyte (Appellant) v The Strategic Services Agency and another (Respondents) (Trinidad and Tobago) Court of Appeal of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Under the Strategic Services Agency Act, Chapter 15:06 of the Laws of Trinidad and Tobago (the "SSA Act"), is the Strategic Services Agency (the "SSA") a legal person capable of being sued in tort?
JCPC 2022/0049 Shawn Campbell and 3 others (Appellants) v The King (Respondent) No 2 (Jamaica) Court of Appeal of Jamaica [To be added in due course]
JCPC 2020/0027 Mohamad Jiaved Ruhumatally (Appellant) v The State and another (Respondents) (Mauritius) Supreme Court of Mauritius Whether the conviction was unsafe and a serious miscarriage of justice as a result of:
  1. The alleged failings of the Judge in his summing up;
  2. Alleged breaches of section 10(1) of the Constitution which protects the right to a fair hearing;
  3. Certain evidence given by witnesses not under oath;
  4. The alleged errors made by the Judge when directing the jury in relation to R v Jogee [2016] UKSC 8;
  5. An alleged breach of principles of equality and fairness in section 1 of the Constitution by virtue of the way the Appellant was charged in comparison with his co-Defendants.
Whether the Appellant received an adequate reduction in the length of sentence in light of the breach of his constitutional right to a trail within a reasonable time.
JCPC 2022/0092 Republic of Kazakhstan (Appellant) v Terra Raf Trans Trading Ltd (Respondent) (Gibraltar) Court of Appeal for Gibraltar Are costs orders made by the English High Court in relation to proceedings to enforce a foreign arbitral award registrable in Gibraltar?
JCPC 2021/0068 PIC Insurance Company Ltd (Appellant) v Zona Barthley and another (Personal Representatives of the Estate of Dr Rolston Barthley, Deceased) (Respondents) (Antigua and Barbuda) Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Antigua and Barbuda) (1) - (2) Was the Court of Appeal correct to accept as proper the findings of fact made by the judge? Can the concurrent findings be reversed?
(3) - (5) Was the Court of Appeal correct in its findings under the Companies Act 1995?
JCPC 2018/0102 Smith (Appellant) v Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (Respondent) The Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (1) Whether it was disproportionate and excessive for the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (the "Disciplinary Committee") to have directed that the appellant's name be removed from the Register of Veterinary Surgeons.
JCPC 2019/0023 Forbes and others (Appellants) v Scotiabank (Bahamas) Ltd (Respondent) (Bahamas) The Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas Whether the amount of damages awarded to the Appellants was correct.
JCPC 2022/0005 Yonggao Pan (Appellant) v Minister of National Security (Respondent) (Trinidad and Tobago) Court of Appeal of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
  1. Were the reasons given for a Deportation Order were sufficient?
  2. Does the Appellant require permission from the court to bring a judicial review claim to determine the adequacy of the reasons given in the Deportation Order, or does he have an automatic right to do so?
JCPC 2022/0077 Nardis Maynard (Appellant) v The King (Respondent) (St Christopher and Nevis) Court of Appeal of St Christopher and Nevis This case is an appeal against a conviction for murder, on the following grounds:
  1. Defence counsel failed to call alibi witnesses at trial;
  2. The Judge failed to identify the weaknesses of the prosecution case when summing up; and
  3. The Judge failed to give a good character direction to the jury on NM's behalf.
The appellant, Nardis Maynard ("NM") submits that on the basis of these factors, his conviction is unsafe and should be quashed.
JCPC 2022/0100 Della Vallery Nolan nee Jude and another (Respondents) v Vandyke Jude (Appellant) (St Lucia) Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (St Lucia) Was the presumption of undue influence rebutted in respect of certain transfers of land to Vandyke Jude from his late father, in circumstances that Vandyke acted as his father's lawyer in respect of the transfers?
JCPC 2023/0045 Kuwait Ports Authority and another (Respondents) v Mark Eric Williams and 2 others (Appellants) (Cayman Islands) Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands What is the correct test for determining whether a limited partner of an exempted limited partnership ("ELP") is entitled to bring a derivative action against the ELP's general partner under section 33(3) of the Exempted Limited Partnership Act (2021 Revision)?
JCPC 2023/0112 Sheikha Amena Ahmed H.A. Al-Thani and another (Appellants) v Sheikha Aisha Mohammed Ali Abdullah Al Thani and 2 others (Respondents) (Virgin Islands) Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (British Virgin Islands) Was the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal wrong to conclude that section 245 of the BVI Business Companies Act 2004 (the "BCA 2004") established that company shares in the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") are movable property for succession purposes?
JCPC 2022/0079 National Bank of Anguilla (Private Banking and Trust) Ltd (in Administration) and another (Appellants) v Chief Minister of Anguilla and 3 others (Respondents) (Anguilla) Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (British Virgin Islands) Should leave to apply for judicial review have been (and should now be) granted? The issues on appeal include:
  1. The correct approach to be applied on an appeal from a judge's refusal to grant leave to apply for judicial review.
  2. Whether the Appellants have a sufficiently arguable case for leave to apply for judicial review to be granted.
  3. Whether the judge's refusal to grant leave exceeded the ambit within which reasonable disagreement is possible.
  4. Whether there is a relevant decision that the Chief Minister of Anguilla (the First Respondent) or the Executive Council of Anguilla could properly have made which would be the subject of the judicial review.
JCPC 2022/0076 Karen Allen and 2 others (Respondents) v Registrar of Companies and another (Appellants) (Montserrat) Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Montserrat) This case concerns the correct interpretation of rules in the Montserrat Companies Act that apply to the disqualification of company directors. In particular, the Privy Council is asked to decide:
  1. Whether a court, exercising its power under sections 65 to 67 of the Montserrat Companies Act to disqualify those it deems unfit from being a director, can disqualify a person from holding office in any company in Montserrat or only those companies in which that person previously held office and that had been the subject of an investigation.
  2. What the relevant legal test is for deeming an individual to be unfit for managing a company in Montserrat.
  3. What weight is to be given to evidence contained a report published by a court appointed investigator, when it is not subject to the stringent rules that apply to expert evidence in legal proceedings when the expert is appointed by the parties.
  4. In light of the answers to the above issues, whether the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the Court of Appeal were correct to partially overturn the first instance judge's decision.
JCPC 2023/0056 Audrey Sheila Flowers (formerly Audrey Sheila Scavella) and another (Respondents) v Bria Scavella and 2 others (Appellants) (Bahamas) Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas William Graham Scavella died on 19 November 2012. At the time of his death, he was married to Audrey Flowers (previously Scavella), and they were joint tenants of a property on which they had taken out a mortgage. The couple were jointly and severally liable for the debt. Mr Scavella had a life insurance policy which became payable to his estate when he died. Mr Scavella had previously been married to Gina Scavella, with whom he had had two children.
JCPC 2022/0041 and JCPC 2022/0062 1Globe Capital LLC (Appellant) v Sinovac Biotech Ltd (Respondent) (Antigua and Barbuda)
and 1Globe Capital LLC (Appellant) v Sinovac Biotech Ltd (Respondent) (Antigua and Barbuda) No 2 		Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Antigua & Barbuda) The validity under Antiguan law of a Rights Agreement adopted on 28 March 2016 by the board of the Respondent company without shareholder approval.
JCPC 2021/0095 Attorney General (Appellant) v Jonathan Reid and 3 others (Respondents) (Bahamas) Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas Whether the Court of Appeal erred in dismissing an appeal against the Supreme Court's order discharging a restraint order made pursuant to a request for mutual legal assistance.
JCPC 2022/0046 Julian Washington (Appellant) v The King (Respondent) (Bermuda) Court of Appeal for Bermuda Whether the Court of Appeal erred in affirming the conviction of Mr Washington for murder, attempted murder, using a firearm to commit an indictable offence and handling ammunition.