Bridgetown, May 7 2010: LIME’s Executive Vice President, Legal and Regulatory, today said that his company was not surprised by reports in the media that Digicel wants to negotiate a settlement in relation to the costs that were awarded to Cable & Wireless against them in a ruling by the UK High Court two weeks ago.
Digicel had brought suit against Cable & Wireless claiming that C&W had deliberately and intentionally delayed Digicel’s entry into several markets in the Caribbean between 20002 and 2006.
Not only did the UK High Court rule against Digicel, but it also awarded costs to Cable & Wireless which could run to US $24-million, and the Judge also issued a stinging rebuke to Digicel in reference to several aspects of the suit.
Mr. Austin said: “We’d expect Digicel to say they want to negotiate on the costs. They lost the case comprehensively, and the judge has awarded costs against them. We estimate that they have spent about £10m in legal costs already, so it doesn’t surprise us that they want to negotiate. We are considering our position, but as we have been awarded costs by the court, we are very well positioned.”
Mr. Austin added that in considering its position in relation to negotiating costs, C&W will take into consideration the rebuke of the trial judge in handing down the decision in the case which C&W has always maintained was baseless and nothing more than a colossal waste of time and money.
He pointed to several areas of the judge’s comments which, in effect said, among other things, that:
Digicel did not follow accepted procedure in filing their suit as they failed to inform C&W of the suit before they announced it to the media.
Digicel made the announcement of the suit in the Press on the eve of a Cable & Wireless AGM so that this would be potentially damaging to C&W and advantageous to Digicel.
Digicel has never given an explanation as to where their initial figure of £300-million (Sterling) came from (announced in the media) and it appeared to the Judge that the figure was grossly exaggerated and Digicel had massively over claimed.
Digicel’s claim of delay on C&W’s part was significantly overstated.
Digicel’s allegation of conspiracy was speculative and weak
Finally, the judge commented that Digicel’s media release after the initial ruling on the case was seen as “The Claimants (Digicel) seeking to put the best spin on a very bad result.”
Mr. Austin concluded: “Any negotiated settlement with Digicel will be can only be in the context of our company being fully compensated and reimbursed for the enormous expense brought on by a totally unnecessary and time-wasting suit”.
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