The Tribune

By CARA BETHEL

BILLIONAIRE fashion designer Peter Nygard yesterday won his appeal against a judge’s finding that he was guilty of contempt of court.

It means Mr Nygard will not face a 30-day jail sentence or have to pay a $50,000 fine.

A judge had found Mr Nygard guilty of contempt for disobeying an order pending the hearing of a civil matter involving himself and his neighbour, Louis Bacon.

Mr Bacon is the owner of Point House Corporation (PCH), the applicant in the contempt matter that stems from a legal battle between the two involving a property right of way.

A source close to the legal proceedings yesterday told The Big T that the specific issue of contempt in the case which involves a property dispute has been settled.

Yesterday Mr Nygard was the only one to present arguments to the Court of Appeal on the contempt matter. Mr Bacon did not oppose the Nygard contempt appeal.

Last October, Justice Stephen Isaacs found Mr Nygard guilty of contempt and ordered that he be committed to Her Majesty’s Prison for 30 days.

The imprisonment would not be enforced on the conditions that Nygard provides “proof that he has paid a fine of $50,000 to the Public Treasury within 14 days of today’s date and he liquidates the restoration expenses incurred by PCH within 14 days of the presentation of the bill, vouched by invoices, for same,” the judge said.

The basis for PHC’s contempt application was that Mr Nygard did not do as promised, which was to immediately remove the words “To Nygard Cay” from the roadway, refrain from affixing any further signs of any kind on the roadway, and make no further alterations to the state of the roadway area pending the September 4 hearing and decision of the summons filed in the court by both Mr Bacon and Mr Nygard in June.

It was claimed that instead, Mr Nygard on June 18, through his workers, altered the roadway area by removing several coral stones and destroying certain plants along the roadway that PHC had owned for more than five years.

It was further claimed that the following day, June 19, Mr Nygard through his servants, altered the roadway area by adding another layer of asphalt to the area in front of the entrance gate to Nygard Cay.

Then, on July 14, Mr Nygard reportedly, through his servants, cut away, removed and destroyed the gates owned by PHC and installed posts located on its property.

Two weeks later, on July 31, Mr Nygard, through his servants, reportedly caused several large stones to be placed on a section of the roadway that crosses over the land owned by Mr Bacon.

All of these grounds, according to PHC’s application, were done in spite of the orders of the terms given to Mr Nygard in court on June 13.

Mr Nygard and Mr Bacon have been battling each other before the courts for the past six years, filing suits and counter suits.

Yesterday the Court of Appeal ordered that Mr Nygard and Mr Bacon each bear their own legal court costs.