LOOP- former LIAT employee Captain Niel Cave has said that he is going full throttle with a defamation case against Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne who he accused of tarnishing his “good name”.
Cave said in an interview with reporters in St Johns on Wednesday that he is in the process of filing a defamation lawsuit against Browne, following statements he made on his radio station over the weekend.
Because the matter could go before the courts, the comments cannot be repeated verbatim but Cave said clearly the remarks were serious enough to have long-lasting negative implications on his life and future career.
“He’s been doing this for quite a while. From what I have been advised, it’s clear-cut defamation. Prime Minister Browne has chosen to maliciously attack me because I have stood up for what is right,” Cave said.
Apart from the alleged libellous remarks, Cave said Browne has not represented the office of prime minister with professionalism.
“I am not surprised but appalled and embarrassed for PM Browne because of how he behaves. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the office of the prime minister which in my opinion he has not and continues not to be serving well by making these kinds of statements and behaving in a classless manner,” Cave said
Prime Minister Browne has denied defaming Cave. He insists that the former LIAT staff is simply seeking public attention.
In April, a high court ruled that former LIAT pilots can proceed with legal action against the Gaston Browne-led administration in the twin-island state.
Some 600 of these pilots are seeking to get millions of dollars in severance and other payments entitled to them.
Cave, along with four of his colleagues, had filed a suit in the Antigua and Barbuda High Court, challenging the constitutionality of Section 564(1)(a) of the Companies Amendment Act 2020.
That section imposed an automatic stay of proceedings on all matters against LIAT 1974 Limited, which is currently in administration.
This resulted in a separate High Court claim by the pilots, dating back to 2015 and which was set for trial in 2020, being adjourned indefinitely.
But, High Court Judge, Justice Marissa Robertson, upheld the two key contentions of the pilots, ruling that the section of the Companies Act in question was unconstitutional.
She ruled that it is “overbroad” and not rationally connected with the objective of the amendment, which is to allow debtors (including LIAT) to pursue rehabilitation by affording it protection from enforcement by its creditors, and therefore, cannot be justifiable.
The judge also ruled that the section infringed the principle of separation of powers as the automatic stay of proceedings removed new and current matters from the oversight of the court.
The court challenge originated with a claim against the Antigua and Barbuda government regarding the “unauthorised” lodging of pilots’ pensions with the collapsed CLICO International Life Insurance Company Limited.
The dismissed workers have been fighting since the airline’s collapse to get more than EC$120 million owed in severance and other benefits.
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You can’t buy class.
It’s not sold in stores.
You either have it or you don’t.
Some people just don’t have it.
GHETTO!!!!
Did he call him a deracinated imbecile? Or a dunce element? Or a just a bad employee of LIAT. I mean if he feels so bad about those descriptive words of his character that he first must prove that he is not. Cause that is certainly not defaming. That is the PM’s opinion of his character. It may be harsh to accept it, but I would say man up. And since you called the PM a bully should he sue you for defamation?
@ From the Sideline
Yes! he said those things about BARBUDANS.
Should they sue?
Did you hear everything that he said about cave?
He did say these things about a set of Barbudans. But certainly not ALL Barbudans. And that is the lie you guys keep spreading. And once again you are making my case. Just look up those words in the dictionary. Those words are not defamatory at all. Just a nice way of telling you how dumb and stupid you are.
Sidelines:You need a bull bud with wires inside across your fat back.
But is he not a bully at lease he act like one SIDELINE your head is so far up browne boy Butt that all you can smell dung.
Thank you ANR for giving all sides an opportunity to be heard. Antigua’s only truly independent media house.
There is definitely something sinister and dark about this Prime Minister.
I don’t know if it’s his mischievous character, the company that he keeps, or simply he just thoroughly enjoys being nasty and vindictive.
But what I do know, is that a leopard can change he spots.
Gaston Browne seems more interested in getting involved in matters of litigation than the welfare and well-being of Antiguans 🇦🇬
Litigation has proved a lucrative sideline for the PM.
A VOTE 🗳 FOR THE ABLP IS A VOTE FOR MORE OF THE SAME – WHY PUNISH OURSELVES AGAIN … ?!
*cannot
You guys are losers; therefore, you will be punished for the next 28 years. Everyone that started a lawsuit against Gaston so far has lost. Ask Dr. Newton. He still hasn’t paid Gaston. And Ivena has been begging him to retract his case against her. Lovell had promised to come to her aid, but as we can see he was full of lies. He left the lady all to herself. She is not even singing any longer.
Cave was one of those pompous elements in Liat. He still appears that way which just be his nature.
Gaston will bring him down. He doesn’t know who he is messing with. Mia will in the end come begging for him.
Just Saying – You know nothing. Go but your head on a coconut tree and hear the echo.
“Behaving in a classless manner”!!! PM Gaston Browne, “you must know your place”!!! So I urge you, on behalf of all Antiguans and Barbudans and Caribbean people, to go down to UWI Five Islands and register in a ‘class’ on :How to behave and become classy (british) !!! Please hurry before the lawsuit catch you!!!
All of us must know this and never, never forget it: “A people without knowledge of their history, origin and culture, is like a tree without roots.”
Pre-K to tertiary, our education system MUST prioritize STEM and business curriculum powered by our Caribbean creative Arts (consciousness) in every public school- after school, summer camps.
Our economic growth and social development REQUIRE that transformation from the colonial education for elite management and unskilled labor.
We must get rid of our STEM INFERIORITY COMPLEX! STEM is achievable and rewarding for everyone.
For our foundational knowledge and history, listen to Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, our Guyanese author, historian, linguist and anthropologist: A History of African Science – YouTube; also read his book: Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern.
Blessings!
🤡
Browne is a moron an as for LIAT is finish covid put paid to that Antigua pm is such a bold face liar where are all those investors that were lining up to invest in LIAT he couldn’t name them then and he can’t now because they weren’t any such a Fart in the wind he is,no body in there right mind will invest in LIAT yes the Caribbean need a carrier but not LIAT that brand is tainted and forever will be I hope Barbados st Lucia and st Vincent and maybe Grenada can come together with a Fast Ferry very soon.
I prefer Orville Redenbacher with lots of butter
Will we see an Antiguan & Barbudan agroscientist and entrepreneur of Antigua Black Pineapple, like Orville Redenbacher, famous for his Popcorn? Keep hope alive!!
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