BELIZE CITY, Thurs. June 23, 2022
The Supreme Court has awarded Hugo Patt, area representative for Corozal North, approximately $175,000 in compensatory and vindicatory damages, and cost of court, in his lawsuit against the government of Belize for breach of his constitutional rights in connection to the release of the recent Commission of Inquiry findings into the fire sale of government assets to persons affiliated with the government during the final months of the Barrow administration. Patt, through his attorney, senior counsel Dean Barrow, the country’s former prime minister, asserted in the lawsuit he brought against the government that he was not allowed to put forth a defense against the claims against him prior to the release of the commission’s findings, which was a breach of his constitutional right to natural justice, and caused egregious damage to his reputation. Justice Lisa Shoman, who presided over the case, has since ordered the redaction of a certain section of the Commission of Inquiry’s findings that names Patt and has not decided on a quantum in damages to be awarded to him.
During an interview today, Patt’s attorney, Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow S.C., said that they are satisfied with the decision.
“In court, we in fact set out a kind of range, and we went through the cases to justify the range which we submitted the court ought to find an appropriate award. What the court came up with is entirely within the range,” Barrow said.
He made mention of the fact that Douglas Mendez, S.C, who represented the government in this case, argued that the claimant could only sue for compensatory damages, and that amount in damages by way of compensation could not exceed $50,000. The court ultimately granted the claimant two forms of damages.
“We were saying we needed as well the second limb of vindicatory damages and the court gave us both limbs, $95,000 compensation and $50,000 as vindication or as aggravation,” Barrow said. He shared that as far as he could recollect, this is the largest award in damages for a case of breach of constitutional rights. (Additionally, according to Barrow, the cost of court is between $30,000 and $40,000.) He also noted that unlike what was reported by another media outlet, the claim by Patt was one of breach of constitutional rights and not a defamation claim.
“Its an award for breach of constitutional rights, indeed in looking [inaudible] it was admitted by both sides, it was conceded by both sides that the court could look to defamation awards as a guide because the breach of the constitutional rights alleged here, we said, resulted in great damage to Hugo Patt’s reputation….but it is not a defamation claim. It is a judicial review claim in which there was damages in consequence of the violation of Hugo Patt’s constitutional rights. As far as I know, this is the largest award for damages in relation to constitutional rights.” Barrow explained.
His own judicial review claim against the government’s findings by the Commission of Inquiry goes back to court on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, Barrow stated. Reports are that Godwin Hulse has also filed a claim in an effort to clear his name of charges made against him in the report.
It is worth noting that, to a large extent, the truthfulness of the claims made in the Commission of Inquiry’s report was not the primary focus of the lawsuit brought by Hon. Barrow on behalf of Hon. Patt.
It had been suggested that Patt, who had been the Lands Minister during the final portion of the Barrow administration, engaged in land transactions with a Chinese businessman who, it is alleged, financed the purchase of a Toyota Tacoma on Patt’s behalf when public assets were being sold at drastically reduced prices to government insiders. Those sales were reportedly approved by then Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow.