Court of Appeal denies appeal of Divi

November 27, 2008 4:49 AM

Divi St. Maarten Holding N.V. (“Divi”), the international hotel chain owner and operator had initiated administrative proceedings against the Island Government of St. Maarten, on the basis of damages incurred by Divi as a consequence of the determination by the Island Government as conservation area, of a parcel of land on which Fort Amsterdam, a 400 year old Fort is situated.

Divi is owner of this parcel of land and claimed that it had the intention to develop this area. Divi claimed an amount of USD 44,500,000 from the Island Territory.

The Executive Counsel of St. Maarten had established a development plan in 1999 – after Divi had become the owner of this land in 1987 - whereby the area of the Fort had been declared as an area which could be used for restricted development as it was considered a “monument” area.

The Court of First Instance St. Maarten considered that Divi already in an early stage, should have realized the archeological value of the area and that it was very likely that protective measures would be taken by the Government as regards this site.

On the basis of this and other reasons, the claim of Divi against the Island Government was denied by the Court of First Instance. Divi appealed against this judgment with the Court of Appeal of the Netherlands Antilles. However, in its judgment of November 20th, 2008, the appeal of Divi was denied.

(Source: National newspaper “Antilliaans Dagblad”)

25 November 2008

The Island Counsel of the territory of St. Maarten was represented by Mayesi Hammoud and Michiel Gorsira of VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne.