A major land dispute between local airline carrier, Tropic Air, headquartered in San Pedro Town, and Construction Depot Limited, owned by Brett Feinstein of the Benny’s Group of Companies, was resolved this week; however, the details regarding the settlement have not been made public, since both parties informed the court that they had reached an out-of-court agreement.
Feinstein and the executives of Tropic Air have been at odds over ownership of a piece of land on which Tropic Air is building a $6 million airplane maintenance complex near the San Pedro municipal airstrip, for which it has had to halt construction since last month due to the fact that Construction Depot produced a title for a portion of the land in question which, in turn, superseded Tropic Air’s lease, which they reportedly held since May 2008.
Despite the fact that works – which represented an investment of over a million dollars – had begun four months prior to the granting of Feinstein’s title, in addition to a subsequent admission by Minister of Lands, Hon. Gaspar Vega, that the Department of Lands and Surveys erred in the allotment of the paperwork and the subsequent cancellation of Tropic Air’s lease, the matter headed to court, after which both parties were then asked to settle the matter privately.
After several weeks of litigation, their attorneys were back in the Supreme Court this week to formalize the resolution, and according to our sources, Tropic Air will get to continue construction on its new building, and Feinstein’s Construction Depot Limited will move to another parcel of land along the airstrip.
The exact terms of the settlement, however, remain confidential, and attorney for Tropic Air, Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay, would only divulge to reporters off-record that he believes both sides will be satisfied by its terms.
Courtenay was joined by Agnes Segura-Gillett as the legal representative of Tropic Air, while Leslie Mendez, sitting in for Godfrey Smith, SC, appeared on behalf of Construction Depot.
Acting Solicitor General Nigel Hawke appeared on behalf of the Government of Belize.