10 days ago, we told you how the Public Service Union's fight for their Hilltop Headquarters in Belmopan landed in the Supreme Court before Justice Courtney Abel.
Through its lawsuit, the union is attempting to reverse the transaction where that the Belmopan City Council has sold the property to the company, Simplex Design. As we told you, however, the union's claim suffered an early setback, when Simplex, a key defendant in the PSU's claim, convinced the court to strike the matter against them. Simplex was able to show that the union has no cause of action against them.
The PSU's lawsuit now continues against the Government and the Belmopan City Council, but, it appears that an out-of-court resolution of this dispute may still be possible. Today, the Union's president told us they have resumed negotiation talks with the council about this land dispute:
Gerald Henry Jr. - President, PSU
"The position where we're at right now is that we're still in court. As you have heard, Simplex has been removed from the case, which basically means that the court has essentially recognized Simplex as the owners. With regard to the eviction, we have no such actual notice of eviction from simplex based on what the lawyer had said. We actually have not had any eviction notice from them. We are also in negotiations with them, in fact, for them to, perhaps, look at affording us some time to evacuate, when that time comes. Eventually, sometime down the road, we perceive that to happen, because like I said, the court seems to be taking the side that Simplex is the actual, legal owners."
"In terms of the relationship that we have with the Belmopan City Council, and our case against them - because, remember, we had a case against the Belmopan City Council as well. That is ongoing, and I think we're looking positive with regard to the Belmopan City Council."
"We're in negotiations again with the Belmopan City Council. I can't speak to the details of that. As I said, I think PSU is in a good position right now, and that's as far as I can take it because we are in negotiations, and I don't want to prejudice anything."
Reporter
"And those negotiations are in relation to finding another location where the PSU can move to?"
Gerald Henry Jr.
"Yes, it involves all of that. It's all-encompassing."
Simplex's attorney Steve Perrera told us today, quote, "We are indeed open to negotiations." He added though that their attorney was served with two notices to vacate.
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