Tonight former City Administrator Candice Miller is vindicated. The Supreme Court found that Belize City Council wrongfully terminated her in May of 2018.
For the past two days, we've been telling you about the trial where Miller sued the council for half a million dollars, and the council countersued for a million dollars - the value of a default judgment they say she failed to tell the mayor about.
So, it's a case with huge financial implications, but also very high political stakes. Miller was brought in as City Administrator by the UDP, and her six-figure contract, signed months before 2018's municipal elections, became a battle cry in the PUP campaign leading into the elections.
But, once they got into office, they couldn't just eject Miller without paying off her substantial contract. So, thinking her disloyal, Mayor Bernard Wagner sidelined her - in the words of Justice Courtney Abel.
And then in May, his council fired her for gross dereliction of duty. - citing three cases where she allegedly dropped the ball, and cost the council many hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But in two days before Justice Courtney Abel - the council's attorney Anthony Sylvestre could not convince him that she was in gross dereliction of her duties.
And, as could have been foretold, this afternoon, Justice Abel delivered a lengthy oral judgment, ruling in her favor. It's a big win for Miller, and after the case, we got reaction from all parties:
Magali Perdomo - Attorney for Candice Miller
"We did succeed in our claim. So, when Ms. Miller was terminated, she was terminated on 3 specific grounds, and the court found that neither of those grounds, none of them, was enough to warrant Miss Miller to be dismissed summarily."
Bernard Wagner - Mayor, Belize City Council
"Obviously, the results are not what we anticipated, clearly. But, the court has ruled and we will review with our attorneys and see where we take it from here."
Reporter
"Having listened to the case, it sounds as though the judge is of the opinion that this is your fault, that you sideline Miss Miller when she was the city administrator. What's your comment on that?"
Bernard Wagner
"Well again, the court has ruled, and we, as law-abiding citizens will take it from there."
Magali Perdomo
"What the court has said is that you don't prevent someone - essentially, I'm not going to say exactly - but, the meaning behind it is you can't stop somebody from doing their duties, and then turn around and claim that they were grossly in dereliction of their duties. That's just not how it works."
"What is says is a contract is a contract, is a contract, and you must abide by the contract. And so, you might not agree with things that happened in the first administration, but you do not come in and then penalize somebody on false grounds. And so, to me, that is the lesson to take away from this whole dilemma."
Candice Miller - Claimant
"I feel vindicated, and I'm happy that a judge could come and tell the mayor, you just can't do that. You don't treat people like that. It is a victory for myself. It is a victory for the Belize Association of Municipal Administrators that lobbied for these contracts."
"As city administrator, I did my job. I did my job. I work diligently. There was no instance of dereliction."
Reporter
"Are there any thoughts to appeal, or are you all going to concede?"
Bernard Wagner
"I can't comment on that right now. I'll have to meet with my attorney, obviously, over the weekend and certainly, next week, we'll be able to give you some response on that."
After the case, the attorneys for both sides went into the judge's chambers to hammer out an award figure in private. Miller's attorney, Magali Perdomo was asking for close to half a million dollars - best information suggests the final award may have been closer to 350 thousand dollars - but that is unofficial.
During the trial, Mayor Wagner spent over 5 hours on the witness stand being cross-examined by Magali Perdomo.
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