Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
Businessman Danny Guerra has secured a legal victory posthumously, after a High Court judge dismissed a civil lawsuit brought against him and his company, DG Readymix.
In a judgment delivered yesterday, Justice Joan Charles rejected the claim filed by Regan and Shamiza Ramkissoon, who alleged they had received a defective batch of concrete.
The case, filed in 2021, centred on whether the concrete supplied by DG Readymix was responsible for structural defects in a suspended floor slab at the couple’s property.
In dismissing the claim, Justice Charles found that the Ramkissoons had failed to provide reliable expert evidence to substantiate their allegations. She was particularly critical of the testimony of a concrete technologist on whom the couple relied.
“The court cannot assume that the concrete was defective based on inference or any evidence that is short of expert evidence,” the judge stated.
She added that the claimants’ own witness conceded that the defects could have resulted from a range of factors.
“In light of their own witness’s evidence that the defective concrete could have been caused by a variety of other issues, I hold that the claimants have failed to establish on a balance of probability that the defendant was liable in negligence for any losses sustained as a result of the decking developing cracks,” she said.
According to evidence presented, the couple paid $30,600 in November 2020 for 28 metres of concrete and the rental of a concrete pump.
Delivery was carried out using four mixer trucks. However, after the first load was discharged, the second truck ran off the access road leading to the property, delaying the remaining deliveries. The stranded vehicle was eventually removed using an excavator, and all concrete was discharged by about 1.30 am the following day.
The Ramkissoons claimed that, prior to pouring, a company employee instructed that ten bags of cement from their own stockpile be added to the mix.
After observing significant cracking and chipping in the completed slab, the couple engaged the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) to conduct tests. Concrete technologist Danny Jairam later reviewed the CARIRI report and opined that the concrete’s compressive strength may have been significantly reduced due to prolonged retention in the trucks and the addition of a chemical retarder.
Through their attorney, Brent Winter, the couple sued for more than $350,000, alleging negligence and breach of an implied warranty under the Sale of Goods Act. They claimed the structure would have to be demolished and rebuilt.
In his defence, Guerra—represented by attorneys Gerald Ramdeen and Dayadai Harripaul—denied liability and attributed the damage to the couple’s own contributory negligence. He maintained that his staff had raised concerns about the condition of the access road and the risks associated with delayed pouring. He also contended that it was the couple’s contractor who instructed that additional cement be added.
Justice Charles noted that the claimants failed to call the author of the CARIRI report to testify, despite being granted permission to do so. She ruled that Jairam’s evidence, which relied on the report, did not meet the legal threshold for admissible expert testimony.
“The absence of any evidence regarding the quality of concrete delivered by the defendant and whether it fell short of an established standard is fatal to their claim,” she said.
The judge ordered the Ramkissoons to pay the legal costs incurred by Guerra and his company in defending the matter.
Guerra’s legal victory comes months after he faced criminal allegations. In October last year, he and his son, Garvin Guerra, were charged with unlawfully processing aggregate without a licence from the Ministry of Energy, following a probe into quarrying operations that led to multiple arrests and the seizure of equipment.
Both men were later detained under preventative detention orders during the State of Emergency, amid allegations that Guerra posed a threat to public safety, including involvement in a purported plot to assassinate a government minister. They were released after six weeks following legal challenges mounted by their attorneys.
Guerra was shot and killed on March 13 while seated in his vehicle outside his DG Homes office in Sangre Grande.
