Email

Print

Over 300 thousand dollars, that’s the award in damages that the Supreme Court has ordered Foreign Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington to pay his former business partners from the real estate company, Progresso Heights Limited. Justice 

Courtney Abel has found that he had no valid reason for stopping the company’s directors from conducting business in Belize. And as a result, he must compensate them for the loss in revenue his actions caused.

By now viewers will be very familiar with this dispute. Elrington is a shareholder in the Progresso Heights Limited, which is run by the American father and son, Lawrence and Adam Schneider. Many years ago, Elrington was their business partner and the company’s attorney, but, they had a major falling out sometime in 2009.

It’s around that time that Elrington went to the Lands Department and registered cautions on over 100 parcels of land that the directors were attempting to sell. And so, in only a few days, Progresso Heights became a real estate company that literally could not sell its properties.

In response to that, Progresso Heights Limited brought a lawsuit against Elrington and the Lands Ministry in an attempt to get those cautions lifted. You’ll remember the strange series of events several weeks ago in full trial before Justice Abel. That's when Elrington showed up and argued his case as his own defense counsel, while also playing the part of an allegedly jilted business partner.

Justice Abel heard arguments from both sides as to why Elrington should or should not take the actions he did to force the company into a deep freeze. The judge returned with a 70+ page draft judgment which he delivered this afternoon. 

He has ruled that Elrington acted unlawfully to register the cautions and that he is directly responsible for the loss in revenue that Progresso Heights Limited. So, he has ordered Elrington to pay compensation, damages, and costs of court to a total of over a quarter-million dollars.

It’s a big win for the Schneiders and their company, and right after the oral ruling was handed down, their attorney granted the awaiting press an interview on the outcome. Here’s what he has to say:

Eamon Courtenay, SC - Attorney for Progresso Heights
"Justice Abel just handed down his decision in the PHL - the Progresso Heights case - against Wilfred Elrington. And he ordered in favor of the company. He ordered that Mr. Elrington had no lawful right to register the cautions, and the Belizean people should know that Mr. Elrington registered cautions on over 100 parcels of land. The judge said he had no right to do that - lawful right to do that - and he ordered a thousand dollars for each one of those parcels that a caution has been on. On top of that, he ordered Mr. Elrington to pay 119,000 US dollars, which was a specific loss that the company had suffered. So, that comes up to over 300,000 Belize dollars against Mr. Elrington. In addition, he found that he [Elrington] should pay costs to the company. I think that is what is important here is that Mr. - the court accepted our argument that Mr. Elrington intended to cause economic loss and damage to this company. Finally, the company has been vindicated. He acted unlawfully, and, he has now got to pay the price of loss to the company, as well as cost."

Reporter
"Do you anticipate that he may attempt to appeal?"

Eamon Courtenay, SC
"I would expect that Mr. Elrington is going to appeal. I know he has, in the past, been advised by imminent counsel that he had no merit in his other cases. He persisted in them. Mr. Elrington has a streak of stubbornness that is not based on law, logic or reason."

As you heard, the claimants are fully expecting Elrington to appeal this judgment.  Elrington was not in court today.