7 News Belize

Chad Eckert Suit Settled
posted (July 19, 2018)
Back in March, American businessman Chad Eckert came under public fire after his former employee, Gustavo Cardenas, sued him.

It's a case that's been in the court for a few months now, but it only became big news after Eckert's company, Apex, became the managers of the Belize Civic Center.

As we reported, Eckert was the owner of Belize Sea Island Cotton, which was producing cotton in Northern Belize. His company hired Cardenas as manager to run the farm, but the two had a dispute, which ended up in court after Cardenas accused Eckert of jilting him in several different ways.

The lawsuit had a hearing today before Justice Courtney Abel, where the two main witnesses, Cardenas and Eckert, were called to the stand to testify. And by midday, Eckert's attorney, Darrell Bradley, told the press that the judge appeared ready to give a decision by the end of the day.

Here's his comment on that:

So, our news team went back to court this evening, where we found the 2 parties trying to settle the dispute out-of-court. After a few hours of negotiations back and forth, Cardenas and Eckert reached an agreement for a consent order. The judge commended them for settling the dispute amicably, and he entered the consent order as a ruling of the court.

Coming out of the case this evening, Eckert's attorney explained the nature of this settlement, and how it came about:

So, as you heard, the ownership of the cotton seeds, and the produce will be sold, and the proceeds will be split between the two. Additionally, Eckert was pressing criminal charges against Cardenas because he asserted that Cardenas had no authority to remove the cotton produce to a different location. Eckert has undertaken to drop the criminal charge against Cardenas.

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