Bird Versus Spencer Postponed

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Politics

Tuesday, 05 April 2011 02:30

By Alex Holder

Antigua, St John's - The legal showdown between ALP leader Lester Bird and Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer and the UPP-aligned Crusader Radio will have to wait, as the court ruled on Monday that the complainant had not filed all of the required documentation within the legally stipulated timeline.

This earned the defendants’ counsels $2,250 in costs, after they initially requested almost $8,000.

The case has again been postponed, adding to the already two-year-old timeline of failed mediation and postponements.

Bird is alleging the defendants “falsely and maliciously” defamed him on November 20, 2008 during the run-up to the 2009 general elections. The statements were supposedly made in relations to the IHI debt investigations, which are still ongoing.

The presiding judge said on Monday that the trial bundle that should have been filed on behalf of the complainants 10 days in advance only made its way to the court’s registry on the morning of the hearing. This caused about a one-hour delay in the start of the trial that was not expected to take more than one day to complete.

According to the complainant's counsel, the delay in filing was not because of negligence, but a computer error had caused a back-up.

It was also alleged that a bundle had been filed before Monday, but was misplaced by court employee. The judge however did not mention this during the proceedings, and counsel opted not to speak of it on the record.

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