The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

PROCEEDINGS concerning whether Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard illegally increased the size of his Lyford Cay property will resume in October with a visit to the site of the alleged expansion.

Legal parties involved in an ongoing judicial review before Justice Rhonda Bain appeared in the Supreme Court yesterday for a status hearing on the matter which had been stalled by Mr Nygard’s application for the judge to recuse herself from a contempt of court hearing initiated by environment group Save The Bays.

Gia Moxey, who appeared for Mr Nygard, confirmed to Justice Bain that Mr Nygard will make himself available the full week of October 3 for the continuation of the case.

The first day was fixed for a site visit to Lyford Cay and the remaining days for cross-examination of witnesses from both sides involved in the legal dispute.

Fred Smith, QC, and lead counsel for the applicants of the judicial review requested that Mr Nygard – if he intends to – file/submit any new affidavit evidence on/or before August 26 so that the matter resumes without further interruptions.

The matter of Mr Nygard’s contempt proceedings also will be dealt with during that week.

Justice Bain was asked to recuse herself from committal proceedings involving Mr Nygard through a notice of motion filed in the Supreme Court by his lawyer, Elliot Lockhart, QC, on the grounds of bias.

However, in January, Justice Bain said Mr Nygard had not proved there was evidence of bias or apparent bias towards him and found the accusations to be “scandalous”.

The Court of Appeal, in June, affirmed Justice Bain’s rejection of the application in an appeal of the decision by the Lyford Cay resident. A published decision is expected to follow.

At a hearing in 2015, Justice Bain had ordered that Mr Nygard be present in court the next day for the committal hearing against him regarding the alleged October 2014 dredging at his Lyford Cay property and to determine whether he was in breach of an injunction against him.

Mr Nygard was served with the second motion outside the courtroom.

In a previous affidavit in support of Justice Bain recusing herself from Mr Nygard’s committal hearings on the grounds of bias, the Canadian’s former attorney Keod Smith stated that both he and his client took the position that Mr Nygard was ordered to remain in court that day “for the sole purpose of affording and/or facilitating” Fred Smith, QC, in serving the fashion designer with the legal notice, notwithstanding Save The Bay’s (STB) alleged numerous failed attempts to previously serve Mr Nygard with the documents.

In that affidavit, dated September 17, 2015, Keod Smith also claimed that neither Justice Bain nor Fred Smith indicated to Mr Nygard or his lawyer that STB “had or was about to commence another contempt application.”

STB, formerly known as the Coalition to Save Clifton Bay, refuted Mr Nygard’s recusal application, arguing that it was “transparently calculated to delay the progress of the first committal application” against Mr Nygard.

STB’s battle with Mr Nygard over the construction/development activities at his Lyford Cay home stem from allegations that the activities have led to substantial growth of the property.

The group claims that the Lyford Cay resident has almost doubled his property’s size, from 3.25 acres to 6.1 acres, since he acquired it in 1984, by allegedly reclaiming Crown land from the sea. The advocacy group has alleged that Mr Nygard achieved this without the necessary permits and approvals, claims that have been denied by the fashion designer.

That comes against the backdrop of Justice Bain’s ruling in 2013 that until the conclusion of judicial review proceedings challenging the legality of the construction of a groyne and the dredging of the seabed off Nygard Cay, neither activity could continue. However, since then, STB has submitted photographic evidence in court alleging that the opposite has happened.