On Friday, 14 February 2025, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) denied the special leave application of the Applicants in GY/A/CV2024/005 Sunrise Inc Resource v Blue Star Export Inc who wished to appeal the Court of Appeal of Guyana’s dismissal of their earlier application to that court. The Court of Appeal had upheld the Full Court’s decision that the Applicants had not properly served a Notice of Appeal.
At the Court of Appeal, the Applicants’ counsel conceded that the Notice of Appeal was served outside of the prescribed time. At the case management hearing before the CCJ, new counsel for the Applicants attempted to present an entirely new argument that the service was indeed effective. The Court ruled that this amounted to an abuse of process; it was contrary to the plethora of well-established authorities against litigants presenting new grounds before the Court which were not raised before. The Court accordingly dismissed the application, awarding costs to the Respondent.
The matter was heard by the Honourable Justices Anderson, Barrow, and Burgess. Mr Sanjeev J. Datadin and Mr Keavon Bess represented the Applicants and Mr Nirvan Singh represented the Respondent.
The CCJ’s full decision is available via www.ccj.org.