Court turns down challenge request in Simpson Bay case

April 18, 2012 3:02 PM

PHILIPSBURG - The Chamber of Challenges turned down the request filed by lawyers of Workers Institute for Organised Labour (WIFOL) on Wednesday, to challenge one of the three judges of the Court of Appeals, who was to decide on a request for stay of execution.

Simpson Bay Resort Management had filed an application for a stay of execution on the April 2 ruling of the Court of First Instance, which had ruled in the union's favour in its case against resort management.

WIFOL's attorneys Maarten Le Poole and Wim van Sambeek had both challenged Judge Jurjen de Haan's impartiality in this case, in which WIFOL is attempting to make Simpson Bay Resort respect the Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) for supervisors, line personnel, middle management and administrative personnel of the former Pelican Resort.

Judges Monique Keppels, Diederik Thierry and Coen Luijks stated in Wednesday's verdict there were no indications that Judge de Haan would be fostering bias towards the union.

The mere fact that De Haan had been involved with this case before, would in itself not mean that one should question his impartiality, the Chamber of Challenges stated.

The union's lawyers had contested Judge de Haan's impartiality, because he had also been involved in the two previous Appeal Court rulings of November 4 and 7, 2011, in this case, which contained several "legal errors," which had been to the union's disadvantage. The WIFOL lawyers claimed this gave the impression of bias.

Judge de Haan rejected the challenge and also declined to excuse himself from the case.

WIFOL attorney Le Poole stated in a reaction he was disappointed in the Chamber's decision, "but a request for a challenge is seldom awarded. We, however, have no regrets concerning the request and will have to live with the outcome," he said.

Le Poole informed that the request for stay of execution of the April 2 ruling, which would effectively suspend the resort's obligation to adhere to CLA obligations, will probably now be heard in the Court of Appeals via a video-conference with Willemstad on Friday afternoon.

(The Daily Herald)

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