In a ruling dated March 27, 2026, the Court of Appeal overturned a controversial contempt ruling made by the Industrial Court on November 5, 2023, against Mr. Anderson E. Carty, Industrial Relations Consultant and an Officer of the Court.
In earlier proceedings, the Industrial Court found Carty guilty of “indirect contempt” of court based on statements he made during a live radio broadcast on Observer Radio’s Connecting with Dave Lester Payne programme.
The court found that Carty’s remarks, which included assertions that the legal system was “compromised,” operated against the “little man,” and was “in chaos at almost every level,” had scandalized the court, attacked its integrity, and brought it into disrepute.
The court concluded that Carty’s statements created the perception that the Industrial Court was biased in favour of employers and that the administration of justice could not be trusted.
As a consequence, Carty was ordered to retract the statements, submit a written apology for the court’s approval, and broadcast that apology live on the same programme.
However, Carty refused, maintaining his innocence while contending that the Industrial Court had no jurisdiction to make such an order against him.
In a striking development during the appellate hearing, the Attorney General’s Chambers, who represented the Industrial Court, agreed that the court did not have jurisdiction to make the contempt order against Carty.
However, it was argued that the order remained binding unless and until overturned by the Court of Appeal.
The appellate panel was visibly troubled by this submission, questioning how an order made without jurisdiction could nonetheless be treated as binding in law.
While the panel appeared poised to deliver strong criticism of the Industrial Court’s handling of the matter, it ultimately chose to reserve its comments. Ultimately, the Court of Appeal set aside the Industrial Court’s decision in its entirety and awarded costs of $2,000 against the Respondent.
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This entire situation is, at best, sad.
I, myself, have had experiences where persons in authority acted badly against me knowing that they had no jurisdiction so to do but nevertheless did it. For this reason, I believe the Crown Proceeding Act should be amended to hold Public Officers personally liable when they “deliberately and knowingly” misuse and abuse their authority or “deliberately and knowingly” act outside their statutory authority.
Anyways, how could a learned attorney argue that an order made without jurisdiction is still binding until overturned? Once a decision-maker makes a decision without jurisdiction it is “void ab initio” (void from the beginning (never existed)). As such, that order and any consequential decision linked to that order is a nullity.
Surprise surf%#ki#gprise! The hardworking likkle man – or woman – hasn’t got a furry cats chance in hrll against the might of the elite classes in this country. None!
They always circle their “golden” wagons around the rights for Antiguans.
We’ve got more chances of building a rocket 🚀 to take us to the moon 🌙
I have said it before and I will continue to say it, THE INDUSTRIAL COURT (AS A WHOLE) NEEDS TO BE VERY CONSCIOUS OF THE IMPORTANT POSITION IT PLAYS, IN EMPLOYEES GETTING JUSTICE IN THIS LAND.
DECISION OF THE COURT COULD HAVE FAR REACHING EFFECT BECAUSE MOST EMPLOYEES ARE STRETCHED FOR CASH AND SOMETIMES CANNOT GO TO THE NEXT LEVEL TO GET JUSTICE.
I am aware that this case had been going on for many many months.
Mr. Carty might have been privileged to have had the financial resources or ‘friends’ that he could have gone on to the Appeals Court and won a case that Stevie Wonder could have seen wrong.
We are guaranteed FREEDOM OF SPEECH in this country. If we SLANDER OR LIBEL anyone, there are avenues to deal with that.
So, who will now pay for the monies Mr. Carty would have lost over the many many months and/or the clients he would have lost over this matter? OH, I FORGOT, IT MIGHT COME DOWN TO THE TAXPAYERS IN THIS COUNTRY.
Shaking My Damn Head.