The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

LINCOLN Bain is awaiting the Court of Appeal’s verdict about his application to appeal to the Privy Council to overturn a decision related to a failed investment deal.

Sir Michael Barnett, president of the Court of Appeal, heard arguments as to whether Bain has the right to appeal to the Privy Council after the Supreme Court decided he had failed to properly invest or return Zinnia Rolle’s funds under an agreement both  parties had signed.

In recapping the case, Sir Michael said Ms Rolle alleged that she had signed an agreement on April 23, 2010,  with Mr Bain for him to hold $40,000 of her funds in a trust for three years. Interest at ten per cent was to be paid annually, with an option for Mr Bain to invest these monies on her behalf if she wanted this. The plaintiff claimed that she never exercised this option and that Mr Bain never returned what amounted to $64,000 with interest.

 In a second contract dated May 4, 2010, Ms Rolle became a partner in Bani Shoe Warehouse on Mackey Street, a business partially owned by Mr Bain. It was expected that she would supply the establishment with merchandise and would receive 30 per cent of all sales, but neither did she receive money from this business deal.

 Bain and his legal team, which includes attorneys Tanya Wright and Maria Daxon, maintain that the $40,000 given to Bain was to acquire the children’s shoe department of Bain’s business and denied receiving any funds for investment. They further claimed that in November 2010, Ms Rolle ceased to operate the kid’s shoe business after a fire.

 In 2021, Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson ruled in favour of Zinnia Rolle, ordering Bain to repay Ms Rolle $64,000.

 The leader of the Coalition of Independents appealed that ruling to the Court of Appeal last year. The court upheld the Supreme Court’s decision. However, Sir Michael condemned the length of legal proceedings under Justice Grant-Thomson as a “blight on the administration of Justice” and struck down the ruling that Bain repay the $64K by February 28, 2022, or risk a 90-day prison term.

 Sir Michael reserved his decision as to whether the case will be allowed to move to the Privy Council.