C&WJ shareholder to sue telecoms in Jamaica
CABLE & Wireless Jamaica, C&WJ, shareholder Eric Jason Abrahams will file his claim against the telecommunications company in the Jamaican Supreme Court.
Although the Court of Appeal had ruled in his favour that nothing precludes a ‘derivative’ action, as he intends to file against the directors of C&WJ, being heard in Florida, the Supreme Court denied the request to do so in subsequent proceedings, according to his lawyer Conrad George of the law firm Hart Muirhead Fatta.
Derivative cases relate to lawsuits filed by a corporate shareholder against directors of the company.
In his case against C&WJ, which trades as Flow Jamaica, Abrahams is alleging that financial transfers to its British parent company, Cable and Wireless Communications Plc, CWC, to which it was indebted, have weakened the local telecoms over time.
In an update on Wednesday, George, who along with attorney Andre Sheckleford represented Abrahams, said the Court of Appeal ruling was on a preliminary point as to whether the Companies Act precluded the filing of derivative proceedings outside of Jamaica.
The appellate court having ruled no on that preliminary point, the hearing of Abrahams’ request for leave to sue C&WJ in Florida resumed in the Supreme Court before Justice David Batts. However, based on objections from C&WJ’s lawyers, Batts withdrew from the case and was replaced by Justice Kissock Laing.
George said Laing ruled after hearing arguments that it was not necessary for the case to be heard in Florida, and delivered judgment to that effect about six weeks ago.
“We had our reason for wanting to bring it to Florida, but our client decided to bring it in Jamaica. And so, we are in the course of filing those proceedings in a day or two in Jamaica,” he said on Wednesday.
Although the Court of Appeal had made its decision on the issue of jurisdiction some time ago, its written reasons were only released last week. The release came after the Supreme Court made its ruling on whether Abrahams would be allowed to sue in Florida.
Cable and Wireless Communications was acquired by Liberty Global in 2016. However, CWC and its regional operations, inclusive of C&WJ, are now owned by Liberty Latin America, which was spun off from Liberty Global in 2018.
C&WJ was taken private after the Liberty takeover.