And now with these successive setbacks for Enriquez and Ramlogan, there is a possibility that the other side - which is the government - could apply for them to bear the costs of government's very expensive attorneys. That bill could go easily into the 6 figure range.
We asked Courtney if they will apply to have costs awarded against Enriquez:
Jules Vasquez
"Will the government be asking for costs as we see this matter still, ever escalating."
Eamon Courtenay, SC, Attorney for the AG
"The issue, Jules, on costs is as follows. As a general rule in public law and constitutional law cases, the state does. If it wins, it does not usually get costs, unless the court is persuaded that the claimants acted wholly unreasonably, that they are persisting in circumstances where the law is obviously against them, or the facts are against them, and they are still taking up court time. Then an application can be made by the state to say listen, In this particular case, there was some unreasonable behavior and we are asking the court to exercise its discretion. I have no instructions at this stage from the Attorney general to say, go after anybody for costs, go after Mr. Enriquez for costs. I will say this: The application to the Caribbean Court of Justice was, to quote the Caribbean Court of Justice "without merit." That application was conceived of by Mr. Ramlogan, not by Mr. Enriquez. There is something called wasted costs, which focuses not on the client but on the lawyer. And I think that that is something that needs to be looked at in this particular matter."
Email
Print