Default judgment dispute delays Dawes’ drill lawsuit

An application to the Supreme Court for a default judgment in the defamation lawsuit filed against parliamentarian Dr Alfred Dawes is on hold amid an 11th-hour dispute over whether he was served with court papers.

A default judgment is a ruling made by a judge in favour of a claimant without a full trial because the defendant failed to file a defence within the timeframe stipulated by court rules.

Dawes, the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP)-aligned member of parliament (MP) for St Catherine South Eastern, was sued by the firm Medical Technologies Limited (Meditech) and Donovan Williams, an MP on the Government side, over public comments he made during a PNP media conference regarding the procurement of a $31-million neurosurgical drill for the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

A Master-in-Chambers – a judicial officer who typically hears procedural matters – was scheduled to hear the application for default judgment on September 24, according to a posting on the Supreme Court’s website.

The Court Administration Division (CAD) confirmed on Friday that “the file is still with the Master and her ruling remains pending”.

No reason was disclosed for the delay.

Emailed response

“The Master anticipates finalising the matter shortly,” CAD said in an emailed response to questions submitted by The Sunday Gleaner last Wednesday.

However, court documents obtained by The Sunday Gleaner revealed that the application for default judgment was supported by an affidavit sworn to by Ray Williams, a private investigator who was the process server in the case.

The process server claimed in the affidavit that he twice served Dawes with an envelope containing the court documents on May 30 last year during a rally the then political aspirant was staging at his constituency office in Portmore.

However, days before the hearing of the application, Dawes, through his attorneys Stubbs Gibson & Associates, wrote to the Master-in-Chambers objecting to the default judgment, the attorneys disclosed.

The lawmaker also submitted an affidavit in which he claimed that he was never served with any documents related to the lawsuit.

The process server acknowledged that Dawes was not personally known to him, but described him as “somewhat of a public figure” whom he often saw in the media over a decade, starting with his leadership of the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association and later after his selection as a PNP candidate.

He said he arrived at the rally about 8:12 p.m. and saw Dawes standing on the side of a platform “wearing an orange short-sleeved button front shirt and baseball cap” and surrounded by “persons clad mainly in orange”.

“Shortly after, I observed when Dr Dawes left the platform and, as I was about five feet from the platform, I quickly walked over to him. As I approached, his back was turned towards me and I reached out, held his left hand and placed the envelope with the abovementioned court documents in his left hand, and he accepted it,” the process server claimed.

He claimed that Dawes turned around and said “Mi nah accept nuh document, mi nah accept nuh document” before he “dropped the envelope on the ground”.

Took up the envelope

The process server said he took up the envelope and contacted attorney Georgia Hamilton, whose law firm represents Meditech and MP Williams, who told him he should not have taken it up.

As a result, the process server said minutes later he returned to Dawes’ constituency office and waited by the gate, where he again handed him the envelopes and told him, “You are served”.

He claimed Dawes again dropped the envelope and headed to a Range Rover sport utility vehicle.

The St Catherine South Eastern MP acknowledged that he arrived at the political rally about 7 p.m. on May 30 last year, but said he was “not aware of anyone handing me any envelope and I had no exchange with anyone pertaining to service of any document”.

“I categorically say that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, no person – female or otherwise – came into my vehicle with any document that night,” Dawes asserted.

The Supreme Court is expected to convene a hearing to allow legal arguments from both sides before deciding whether a default judgment should be entered in favour of Meditech and MP Williams.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com