UPDATED | Juliet Holness’ company wins lawsuit for title; St Andrew landowner gets $1m for property damage
Published:Friday | April 11, 2025 | 12:27 PM
Juliet Holness’ real estate company, JAJ Development and Holdings, has won its lawsuit against a St Andrew landowner for the delivery of a title for the property on which an apartment complex is being built in Leas Flat.
Charlene Ashley, the landowner who sold the property to JAJ, also succeeded in a counter suit and was awarded $1 million in damages.
Justice David Batts handed down his oral judgment in the Supreme Court on Friday. His written reasons are not immediately available.
The judge disclosed that the parties agreed at a meeting in his chambers on April 10 that "a stamped agreement for sale must be produced before this decision becomes enforceable".
Ashley will have 90 days to provide the title.
JAJ's 2020 lawsuit sought a court order to compel Ashley, a marketing consultant, to deliver the splintered title for the land on which its $800-million incomplete apartment complex sits.
The company purchased Lot Two for $22 million in 2012, while Ashley lives on Lot One. Under the agreement, Ashley is to receive an apartment as partial payment and provide the splintered title, which was requested in October 2012.
Ashley counter-sued JAJ, alleging that the company trespassed and destroyed structures on her property. She also argued that she couldn't deliver the title due to subdivision issues, because among other things, changes would require removing her present gateway to allow for an access road to the apartment complex.
JAJ had denied the claims of trespass and rejected a title provided in December 2022, saying it did not conform to the sales agreement.
Ashley and Holness leveled serious allegations against each other during the trial, which started in May 2023.
More details to come.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the $1 million awarded to Ashley was for trespass. While her countersuit against JAJ Development and Holdings was for trespass and property damage, the written judgment said JAJ did not trespass but damaged Ashley's property. We apologise for the error.
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