Attorneys for CIBC are going to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to appeal a 2014 Court of Appeal decision that ordered the bank to make a $6 million payout to jeans manufacturer Gypsy International.
The decision being contested was handed down by the Court of Appeal last November, after Gypsy International co-owner Royston Beepat took the bank to court to determine whether it had acted legally by appointing a receiver over the company’s assets, back in 1984 after a minor fire occurred at the plant.
The company eventually folded.
The bank also brought a counterclaim, to the effect that by the end of the receivership period Gypsy International owed it $214,091.60.
The appellate judges found that CIBC had been in breach of the debenture and released Gypsy from liability.
The same panel of judges – Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson and Justices of Appeal Andrew Burgess and Kaye Goodridge – today granted leave for the bank to take its case to the CCJ.
Senior attorney for the bank, Queen’s Counsel Roger Forde, said that would be done within the next 90 days.
Additionally, a second draft order was made which released back to Gypsy and Beepat, monies they had previously paid into the court as security for legal costs.
Attorney-at-law Sherica Mohammed-Cumberbatch also represented CIBC in the matter, while Alrick Scott acted on behalf of Gypsy International and Beepat.