derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
The T&T Gymnastics Federation (TTGF) has been ordered to justify why a High Court Judge should not force it to pay over $200,000 in compensation awarded to gymnast Thema Williams four years ago in her lawsuit over her failed Olympic bid.
Justice Frank Seepersad made the order as an application from Williams to garnish the federation’s bank account for her long-outstanding compensation, came up for hearing yesterday.
On Monday, Justice Seepersad granted a provisional order freezing one of the federation’s bank accounts with Republic Bank Limited.
During the hearing, the TTGF’s attorney Farai Hove-Masaisai called on Justice Seepersad to not make the order final in order for Williams to be paid from the frozen account.
Masaisai claimed that the money held in the account was given to his client by the State for specific purposes and should not be used to clear its debt to Williams.
While Justice Seepersad granted the TTGF permission to file an affidavit on the issue, he still raised concerns that his judgement in Williams’ case was not complied with.
“I am quite alarmed that a decision in November 2018 has not been satisfied and compliance with the rule of law is mandatory,” he said, as he described the delay as unacceptable.
He also ordered the bank to submit its own evidence on the status of the account.
The application is scheduled to come up for hearing on October 27.
In the lawsuit, Williams claimed that the federation and four members of its then executive—former TTGF president David Marquez, vice-president Akil Wattley, Ricardo Lue Shue and his wife Donna—were biased when they withdrew and replaced her from representing the country at an Olympic test event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in April 2016.
According to the evidence in the case, their decision was largely based on a travel log from Williams’ coach John Geddert.
In the log, Geddert revealed that Williams performed poorly at warm-up events.
In his judgement, Seepersad noted that although the executive members acknowledged that they needed more information from Geddert to determine if she should be withdrawn due to injury, they went ahead to prepare Marissa Dick to replace her, without it.
He noted that while Marquez claimed he tried unsuccessfully to call Geddert, telephone records showed that the calls were made well after he and executive members ensured that Dick was available to make the last-minute trip.
“The court formed the view that these defendants allowed their entrenched biases to cloud their judgement and they acted with undue haste, deprived themselves of the benefit of relevant information and ultimately effected a flawed decision,” Seepersad ruled.
He also noted that the federation also did not consult with its physiotherapist who was with Williams in Brazil.
While Williams was seeking to hold the executive members personally liable, Justice Seepersad did not uphold that aspect of her case.
While Justice Seepersad noted that Williams was able to prove that Marquez and Wattley were biased against her and that the Lue Shues favoured her replacement, he stated that there was no evidence that the group conspired to block Williams.
Williams was initially seeking millions of dollars in compensation for endorsement deals and a scholarship she said she would have received if she became the first person to represent T&T in gymnastics at the Olympic Games.
Seepersad said that he could not uphold the claims as Williams was unable to produce concrete evidence over the potential deals.
However, he still ruled that she was entitled to $50,000 compensation as it could be inferred that her earning power would have increased with her participation in the Olympics.
In addition to compensation for loss of opportunities, Justice Seepersad also awarded her $150,000 in exemplary damages for the federation’s arbitrary conduct.
Under the garnishee application, Williams’ lawyers are claiming that she is also owed over $38,000 in interest, which continues to accrue at five per cent per annum, until the judgement debt is cleared.
Williams was represented by Darrell Allahar and Reza Ramjohn, while Tonya Rowley represented the bank.