Court of Appeal confirms 'no leave to appeal' ruling

On June 16 2011 the Bahamian Court of Appeal confirmed that no leave to appeal was required from judgments relating to preliminary issues under Order 33, Rule 3 of the Rules of the Supreme Court.

In Crawford & Company International Inc v Crawford (Bahamas) Ltd(1) Crawford International appealed the judgment of Justice Allen relating to the determination of a preliminary issue concerning the scope of a management contract.

A preliminary objection was taken to the appeal on the basis that, since the judgment was interlocutory and no leave to appeal had been obtained from Allen, the appeal was "completely valueless and void." After considering the issue, the appeal court determined that the judgment on the preliminary issue was final rather than interlocutory, and as such no leave was required.The court expressly approved the approach adopted by the English Court of Appeal in White v Brunto(2) relating to final and interlocutory judgment which was approved by the Privy Council in Strathmore Group Ltd v AM Fraser.(3)

For further information on this topic please contact Marco Turnquest or Sophia Rolle at Lennox Paton by telephone (+1 242 502 5000), fax (+1 242 328 0566) or email (mturnquest@lennoxpaton.com or srolle@lennoxpaton.com).

Endnotes

(1) Civil Appeal 97 of 2010.

(2) [1984] 2 All ER 606.

(3) [1992] 2 AC 172.