Air Jamaica lawyers duke it out

Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

THE CONTENTION between a former partner in the law firm Clinton Hart and Company and the present partners over the legal fees for representing the beneficiaries in the Air Jamaica pension fund is far from over.

One aspect of the dispute was disposed of last week Thursday by the Court of Appeal when it refused to lift a stay of execution so that one of the former partners could get his alleged 25 per cent share of the legal fees.

The Court of Appeal comprising the Hon. Ian Forte, president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Donald Bingham and Ransford Langrin, has ordered that the costs of the appeal must not be borne by the Trust Fund.

Attorney, Phillip Forrest, a former partner in the law firm Clinton Hart and Company who has sued the trustees of the Air Jamaica pension fund to get his 25 per cent share of the legal fees had asked the Court of Appeal to overturn the stay of execution which was granted in May this year by a judge in chambers at the Court of Appeal.

Mr. Forrest also failed in his attempt in the Court of Appeal to oppose the order granting the other partners the right to intervene in the appeal. The Court of Appeal, in dismissing Mr. Forrest's appeal, ordered that he should pay the costs of the other parties.

Mr. Forrest brought a summons in the Supreme Court in January this year contending that he was entitled to 25 per cent of the legal fees. Justice Basil Reid heard the summons and ordered that the trustees for the pension fund should pay Mr. Forrest his 25 per cent share.

CIBC Trust and Merchant Bank and former Air Jamaica workers Joy Charlton and Ian Blair, trustees of the fund, are appealing Justice Reid's decision. A date has not yet been set for the hearing.

In May this year a Court of Appeal Judge granted a stay of Justice Reid's order. The judge also ordered that the fees payable to Mr. Forrest must be placed in an account and held by the trustees in the names of Mr. Forrest, and partners of the law firm Paul Hanna, Patrick Foster and Richard Ayoub and former partner Vincent Chen. The partners of the law firm have been granted leave to intervene in the appeal on the ground that they should have been parties to the suit which Mr. Forrest filed against the trustees. Mr. Chen and Michael Matthews were subsequently granted leave to intervene in the appeal.

The partners and former partners with the exception of Mr. Forrest are contending that it was agreed that the legal fees from the Air Jamaica pension fund would be applied towards the liabilities of the firm which expired on August 14, 1998, when Vincent Chen, one of the partners resigned from the firm.

Mr. Forrest is contending that the beneficiaries of the fees are only four persons and they are Mssrs. Hanna, Foster, Ayoub and himself and that partnership was from August 14, 1998 to December 6, 1999 when it was dissolved after he (Forrest) left. Mr. Forrest claims he has a right to be paid his share of the fees without any liabilities.

The Government announced in May this year that it had paid the trustees $700 million of the $1.4 billion which the former Air Jamaica workers said they were entitled to from the surplus in the pension fund. The former workers took the Government to court contending that they were entitled to the surplus in the pension fund. The Supreme Court ruled that the surplus belonged to the Government. They appealed and the Court of Appeal ruled that the surplus belonged to the workers. The Privy Council heard the matter and ruled that the surplus belonged to the workers and Air Jamaica Ltd.

The beneficiaries are expected to be given an interim payment next month. The trustees with the assistance of Price-WaterhouseCoopers are now working on the individual entitlement of the beneficiaries.

Norman Hill, Q.C. represented Mr. Forrest last week at the hearing in the Court of Appeal. Attorney, Patrick Brooks, represented the partners in the law firm. Hilary Phillips, Q.C. represented Mr. Matthews and attorney, David Batts, represented Mr. Chen. The trustees were represented by attorney, Samuel Harrison.

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