High Court judge’s ruling on payment was flawed — Willock
After a brief hiatus, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Julian Willock, has decided to once again speak publicly on the matter of his now aborted injunction before the High Court.
Appearing on the Umoja radio show yesterday November 15, the Speaker said several times that the ruling of the presiding judge, Justice Adrian Jack, was flawed in deciding that he (Willock) should be personally liable for the court costs.
The court determined that Willock appeared in his personal capacity in bringing the injunction.
“It’s a flawed ruling because you have never heard a plaintiff takes a case to court, and you’ve never heard the plaintiff lose – whether he or she withdraws, whether he just loses the case – you’ve never heard any debate about who pays,” Willock said.
“The person who takes the case and either loses or withdraws, he pays in whatever capacity he comes before the court in. That is just jurisprudence. That has been long established,“ the Speaker asserted.
Willock described the circumstances as ‘curious’ whereby he was being asked to pay legal fees out of pocket after appearing before the court in his official capacity.
Cost not as high as mentioned in media
Willock also revealed during the show that there was a hearing sometime last week to determine costs in the matter, and the figure was now down to about 80 to 90 thousand dollars; much lower than was being peddled in the media by his critics.
The Speaker said this is notwithstanding the fact that taxpayers may have to bear that burden, even as some argue that the funds could be better used.
The focus, he argued, should instead be placed on the bigger picture of an unfair justice system that had different rules for different persons.
Contract says AG, not Silk Legal should have led injunction
Meanwhile, Willock continued to insist that his injunction was filed in the public’s interest and on behalf of the House of Assembly (HOA), despite his acknowledgement that permission had not being given at any time by either House Members or the Attorney General (AG) to do so.
Furthermore, the judge’s ruling suggests that the AG should have led any matter that was brought to the High Court on behalf of the HOA and not Silk Legal, as was done with the Speaker’s injunction.
According to the judge’s ruling, the contract between the HOA and Silk Legal reads: “If any aspect of the COI work reaches a court of law as it related to the aforesaid members in their official capacity, Silk Legal (BVI) Inc will assist Attorney General with legal representation in forms that the Honourable Attorney General approves and considers necessary.”
The AG formed no part of the legal team and even declined to give permission for the Speaker’s injunction matter to proceed before the court.
‘Speakers should not be in the political space’
Just last week in the House of Assembly (HOA), Willock said Speakers and governors should not be part of the political space. He made that statement after acknowledging the furore surrounding payment of legal fees for his aborted injunction.
House Members recently voted to establish a select committee to effectively examine whether taxpayers or Willock should pay the legal fees which the judge ordered Willock to pay.
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Listen to this want to be lawyer! The arrogance and ignorance of all those in this administration is mind boggling. Since the judge’s ruling is flawed then appeal if you think you’re bad. I’m just sick, tired and fed up with this government and their state appointed cronies. We have never been this low in all our years of internal self government.
…now he knows more than the judge…SMDH.
I am just sick and tired of this nonsense, can someone tell me which is the earliest date can election be called.
He was not elected and neither is he electable praze farda! Be certain to not vote for the one who appointed him and the holy consultant ,the HOA landlord .
We support Willock
No we don’t…you do. Speak for yourself.
you have to support someone who has singlehandedly and fatally compromised this derelict bunch in power, which seems unable to take any action against him for some reason. Long may he continue, until the inevitable reckoning at the election.
You know that the BVI is in deep trouble when the likes of this man can be the Speaker. We are at an all time low. I am ashamed for my country. This is no laughing matter.
You had so much to offer to this country, but you just can’t help yourself. You operate like a girl; you always want to answer back to everything someone have to say and That pompous attitude is your demise.
Please do not disgrace and dishonor girls by making such a comparison.
If it was flawed then you should appeal. Not use your influence with the legislature to stick the BVI taxpayer with the bill.
How can you file in your official capacity while admitting that you didn’t seek permission to do so? Not seeking permission made it your INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY JACKA**!!!!!!!
Incase the good gentleman is not aware, when a Judge’s decision is considered ‘flawed’ there’s a process called APPEAL. What the hell is going on here?
If you don’t appeal you can’t question an order. It’s good.
pay your own bills wig boy
ANYTHING TO GET YOUR PHOTO IN THE PAPERS….funny thing is that its working. Very tiring.
If it was flawed appeal. The route being taken now is undermining the courts and integrity in this land. Appeal
If the judgement is flawed the way to deal with it is to appeal the decision. Some.
Thanks Willock we got you
Blog all you want, we all notice there are over 20 likes and 1 dislike. Go sit down, relax and learn to listen to people.
Just look at what we have become. Look at who represents us. Just take a hard look. This has to change because this cannot be who we want to determine the future of our children. It just cannot be. We have lawmakers who do not respect the law. Where does Mr. Willock get off thinking he could call the the judgment flawed. He is a part of an equal branch of government and is publicly condemning another branch. This man is literally breaking down our institutions. This is a very serious thing. Andrew had no right appointing an individual
The BVI deserves every bit of it and I hope it gets worst and I genuinely mean that. Why? Because it seems we do not appreciate anything until we are on our faces. Both of the main parties have their flaws and politics will always be politics but the voters had choices last elections and this is what they chose! We had PVIM which was rushed together but their platform was not bad, NDP which had a break up but had decent candidates and the VIP with mainly fresh faces. The PVIM spoke okay enough, NDP had a fairly decent team and good at-large team that spoke in detail of their platforms. VIP held nightly festive party-type rallies, name calling with loud music and this is what the people voted for. Why are we now shocked 2 years in? The VIP told you VOTE THEM OUT, but never once told you what they would do for the Territory and you fell for it. Take your licks and decide what you will do next election. The BVI deserves everything that is happening right now.
says it all , and it’s saying ( NO JUDGE CAN DICTATE TO ME , AM YOUR ESTEEMED SPEAKER IN YOUR HOA , SO GET USED TO IT ) this guy’s EGO is in OVERDRIVE
If thats the way u feel. The right and proper thing to do is to go back to the courts and prove that the judgement to pay your own court fees is wrong..Its not right for you and HOA to take it up on your own…
Why not appeal if that is so?
The Premier, The Deputy Premier, the Speaker and the deputy Speaker Imagine I saw the speaker passed a crowd of us and said mornint and not one person answer, some turn their backs…Imaging, the Deputy Premier walking the Pier Park and people are actually pretend like they not seeing him, trying to avoud him….Imaging…
Why are you trying to get this brother deeper into quicksand. It’s a ploy of the enemy and they are loving it. I hope the committee recognizes this and act accordingly. This material world operates by magic. The magician’s wand is made of the wood of the holly tree that is why we are being programmed by HOLLYWOOD. One of the favorite phrases of these bloggers is “arrogance and ignorance”…hope you like what it brings.
If The Honourable Speaker knew the law that he can be calling a judgment of a Commercial Court Judge flawed, then we definitely should not be where we are today. He didn’t need Silk Legal or anybody else since he is his own self appointed lawyer and thinks he knows the law.
At least this egotistic individual should not in the future, in my opinion, approach the Court for any reason whatsoever since he is a know it all and only when the court agrees with him it is right.
In the BVI we have certainly brought our pigs to a fine market voting in this group and their cronies. And yes I said voting in their cronies too as they seem to have just as much power as those whose names were on the ballot.
VIP had no plan for taking and progressing this country forward into the future. The gravy train atmosphere is what persons voted for. As a citizen of these beautiful islands, all we need is consideration for all when spending tax dollars that all contributed towards. Yes friends and cronies are included in that, but not to the exclusion of everyone else. It is time to tell this Government to go home and never come back to our House of Assembly. They have truly failed us. When you have four solid years with $400 million being spent per year but no progress and nothing to show for it, it will not be easy to recover. They have set us back many, many years.