US$100M claim against Omai and Cambior-- Court grants Order to serve summons on overseas defendants by George Barclay Guyana Chronicle August 20, 1999 ACTING Chief Justice Lennox Perry on Wednesday granted the plaintiffs representing 23,000 victims of the cyanide waste spill at Omai Gold Mine in 1995, an Order providing for the service of US$100M claims on defendants in Canada. On Tuesday the Chief Justice (ag) had refused the Order on the grounds that there existed such an Order which was granted to Lawyer Eva Rawana-Scott by Justice Oswell Legall in July of this year. There could not be two Orders for the same cause, Justice Perry had said. But after new information reached the Court on Wednesday by way of affidavits from the plaintiffs and Rawana-Scott's clerk, Justice Perry ordered:- * That the original Order granted in July by Justice Legall be discharged on the grounds that it was obtained by fraud and lack of authority. * The other Order granted the plaintiffs Judith David and Elizabeth David through their lawyers, Mr Mortimer Coddett and Mr Storm Westmaas, authority to serve the˙writs and summonses out of the Court's Jurisdiction on the defendants. One of the˙affidavits, which the Acting Chief Justice studied Wednesday before granting the Order was that of Semone Lewis a Clerk/typist with Mrs Eva Rawana-Scott. Among other things she said that on the afternoon of May 24, 1999, Ms Judith David, a client of Mrs Rawana-Scott, came to the Chambers while Counsel was out and left a letter which she gave to her as soon as she arrived. (It was the letter of dismissal.) Lewis said that on May 25, 1999, Mrs Rawana-Scott told her that if anybody asked about the letter that Ms Judith David left for her, "I must lie and tell them that it was never delivered." Lewis added that on Monday, May 31, 1999, Ms Judith David again came to the Chambers of Mrs Rawana-Scott and an argument ensued between the client and counsel. "On June 1, 1999, Mrs Rawana-Scott gave me a document to type, which stated falsely that Ms Judith David privately requested that I go into Ms Rawana-Scott's Chambers to steal papers belonging to the said Ms Judith David and pass them to Ms David. "I did not type˙the˙document until the afternoon of June In, 1999, when Mrs Rawana-Scott forced me to type the said document by threatening me that if I do not type and sign it, I would be out of a job. "I need a job to take care of my five children and my mother and if I do later sign the document it is not because it is true, but because of the threat and pressure Mrs Rawana-Scott has put on me." After reading the affidavits of David and Lewis and hearing arguments from lawyers Mr. Coddett and Mr. Westmaas, Acting Chief Justice Perry ordered:- "Upon reading the Application by way of summons on the part of the above-named plaintiffs and the affidavit in support thereof sworn to on the 18th day of August, 1999 and filed in support thereof and upon hearing Mr. Jonas Mortimer Fitzgerald Coddett and Mr Storm Westmaas Attorneys-at-law for the plaintiffs, "It is ordered that personal service on the Defendants in this cause be and is hereby dispensed with and that of the Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim extracted herein shall be deemed to be effected on the defendants out of the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court by Mr Jonas Mortimer Fitzgerald Coddett and Mr Storm Westmaas for the plaintiffs by sending same by pre-paid Registered Air Mail Post with acknowledgement of receipt of a sealed copy of the Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim together with a sealed and certified copy of this Order of Court be addressed to the Defendants Cambior Inc of 800 Rene-Levesque Blvd, West Suite 850, Montreal, Quebec H3B 1X9, Canada, Gold & Associates of Lot 63 Place Fontence, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and Home Insurance of Lot 1 Place Ville Marie, Suite 4000, Montreal, Quebec, Canada." The judge further ordered that the defendants be at liberty to enter an appearance within 42 days after the date of receipt of the said registered packet. It was further ordered that acknowledgement of receipt of the said registered packet signed by the defendants themselves and individually together with an affidavit identifying the signatures of the said defendants named herein be deemed sufficient proof of such service on the defendants herein." The defendants are :- * Cambior Inc, a legal person within the meaning of the Civil Code of Quebec, having its Head Office at 800 Rene-Levesque Blvd, West Suite 850, in the City and District of Montreal, Province of Quebec, (H3B 1X9) * Gold & Associates (a legal person within the meaning of the Civil Code of Quebec, having its Head Office at 63 Place Fontence, in the City and District of Montreal, Province of Quebec.) * Home Insurance (a legal person within the meaning of the Civil Code Quebec, having its Head Office at 1 Place Ville Marie, Suite 40000, in the City and District of Montreal, Province of Quebec.) Service has already been effected on the fourth defendant - Omai Gold Mines Limited, with registered office and Place of business situate at Lot 176 D Middle Street, Georgetown. The plaintiffs have filed for a sum in excess of some US$100M in compensation in Court. Essequibo residents, including some with skin rashes and defective eyes, which they blame on the cyanide waste spill into the Essequibo River in August, 1995 had protested outside of the High Court on Tuesday. According to the summons, the defendants are entities or persons involved in the ownership design, planning, construction and operation of Omai Gold Mines Limited. The Mine site in Guyana is located near the confluence of the Omai and Essequibo Rivers and occupies some 36 km2 of tropical rain forest at an elevation of 50 metres above the sea level in Guyana's hinterland. The summons went on to say that from on or about August 19 to 24, 1995, the plaintiffs' entire lives and livelihoods were devastated by the˙wrongful and unlawful discharge by the defendants by themselves their servants or agents or approximately 3.2 billion cubic litres of water contaminated with cyanide and other noxious compounds and metals from a ruptured reservoir at the Mine into the Omai and Essequibo rivers and surrounding area. It will be recalled that following the spillage, a large number of Guyanese, who claimed to be victims, filed claims locally through their lawyers, demanding millions of dollars in compensation. Lawyer Moses Bhagwan represented the majority of the claimants, who are still waiting on the local Court to fix a date for hearing. A © page from: Guyana: Land of Six Peoples