Judge postpones ruling on resort matter to 14 March

February 29, 2012 6:42 AM

PHILIPSBURG--Judge Rene van Veen deferred his ruling in the Worker's Institute for Organised Labour (WIFOL) versus Simpson Bay Resort and Marina (SBRM) matter to 14 March, on Monday.

Attorney Maarten le Poole said the judge had decided to defer his ruling until the handling of the merits procedure, on March 14. Both matters will be handled simultaneously.

Le Poole said the Court believed that WIFOL could wait for a ruling until the merits procedure had been handled, in just over two weeks. "At this moment, there is not enough urgency on the side of WIFOL for a provisional ruling and because there is no urgency at this time, the Court decided to defer the ruling," he said.

Le Poole added that the Court had dismissed arguments that WIFOL had been misusing its rights by addressing the Court for this matter. "WIFOL is admissible in this case, but the merits will be handled shortly, in two weeks' time, and the Court feels that making a provisional decision now is not necessary."

Le Poole said he understood the judge's decision from a legal point of view. "There is no reason to be dissatisfied. Of course, it means that WIFOL members have to wait a bit longer, but we do not have any negative feelings with this decision."

WIFOL's attorney filed the current court case around mid-January, after the union's several attempts to dialogue with Royal Resorts and SBRM had been rejected by the Management.

This new court action is a so-called procedure on the merits and therefore differs from the ones (the summary procedures) that were tried last year. Those procedures were less extensive and did not allow the Court to fully weigh all the evidence presented by parties.

In a procedure on the merits, the Court will look more carefully at the evidence and will be able to hear witnesses. Hearing witnesses is not possible in a summary procedure.

(The Daily Herald)

28 February 2012

In this case Simpson Bay Resort Management Company (SBRMC) is represented by attorney Jairo Bloem of Bloem $ Associates. Workers Institute for Organised Labour (WIFOL) is being represented by Maarten Le Poole and Wim van Sambeek of HBN Law.