Full court dismisses TUF Valerie Garrido-Lowe injunction

THE Full Court, comprising Justice William Ramlall and Justice Winston Patterson, yesterday dismissed Ms Valerie Garrido-Lowe’s injunction granted by Justice James Bovell-Drakes against Manzoor Nadir and Ismail Muhammad.
The Full Court also granted costs of $50,000 against Ms. Garrido-Lowe.

This decision in effect gives full force to actions taken by the TUF executive to expel Ms. Garrido-Lowe from the party on September 1, a TUF release said.
The TUF executive body will meet today in an emergency session to repair the damage done to the image of TUF by the action of Ms. Lowe. 
On September 1, 2011 a document dated August 31, was circulated claiming that an executive meeting was held on August 31 at 5.30 pm in which it was resolved to expel Mr. Ismail Muhammad, the party chairman. That resolution claimed that the executive had met, three by being present and four present by telephone. That gathering had convened with the knowledge of then leader (Valerie Garrido-Lowe), and in her presence had misrepresented itself as an executive meeting. Only one person present (Ms. Garrido-Lowe) was at that time an executive member. TUF’s Constitution does not make provision for meetings to be attended by teleconferencing. Even so, of the four persons purported to have been present by telephone, only three were executive members. It was required that five members be present to constitute a quorum.
The duly convened meeting of the executive for September 1 was held at 11 am. There were eight executive members present.  –
Ismail Muhammad – Chairman, Dennis Lee – treasurer, Murtland Williams, Khemraj Singh, Mike Jaundoo, Geraldine Ann Charles, June Bourne and
Manzoor Nadir.    
The meeting considered the abuse of and the misrepresentation of the name of the executive by the then leader Ms. Valerie Garrido-Lowe, as the leader and the presidential candidate, The TUF release had said.
On the 9th day of September, 2011, the applicants/defendants filed an ex-parte application by way of affidavit to discharge the interim injunction granted on the 6th day of September, 2011. An argument was heard by Justice James Bovell-Drakes (in Chambers), during which the respondent plaintiff was allowed to be heard in the nature of an opposed ex-parte application, and the Honourable Judge refused, dismissed their application on the 22nd day of September, 2011.
The Full Court, in its ruling yesterday, ordered that the interim injunction be discharged because the judge in question had failed to make the matter inter partes and to give the other side an opportunity to be heard.
The defendants who had appealed to the Full Court were complaining about serious non-disclosures and were contending that the summons to continue the injunction was irregular. They were also saying that the meeting which the respondent/applicant had spoken about did not have a quorum.
Justice William Ramlal delivered  the unanimous decision yesterday.

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