BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – OPERATION RESCUE co-founder Dwyer Astaphan said that he and the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas have reached an agreement through mediation in the lawsuit he had filed against the Federation’s former Prime Minister for calling him “a racist”.
Speaking with SKNVibes this morning (Jun. 29), the former government minister said he had retained the services of Daniel Brantley and Associates in the lawsuit that was also filed against the owner of Freedom FM Radio.
“I initiated legal action against Dr. Denzil Douglas, the former Prime Minister, and that was done while he was the Prime Minister...and also against Mr. Clement ‘Junie’ Liburd. I engaged the services of Daniel Brantley and Associates as my legal counsel.”
Astaphan said the legal process was followed and the parties were offered the option of mediation, which he explained is a court administered process. “In other words, the mediation took place under the auspices of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court by a Court-appointed mediator, and the decision taken at the mediation is given the imprimatur of the Court and it takes force as a Court Order.”
He also explained that the mediation was introduced during the days of Chief Justice Sir Dennis Byron.
“It is a very good thing, because if mediation is possible it cuts down on time, it cuts down on trauma, it cuts down on costs and all of these things. And so the court system gives you as much opportunity as possible to avoid the hostility of litigating,” he added.
Astaphan stated that all parties had agreed to mitigation that was offered by the Court.
“In the first instance, the first effort at mediation, Mr. Liburd and I were able to come to an agreement. We had a second session in which Dr. Douglas and I were able to come to an agreement. Mr. Liburd and I reached our agreement in March of this year and Dr. Douglas and I reached our agreement in either late May or early this month.”
The former government minister also stated that he could not provide details of the settlement.
“I cannot discuss details of the settlement; those are sealed with confidentiality! But I am pleased to say that the mediations were successful. One took a little longer than the other but, at the end of it all, they were successful and we just have to comply with the terms of the settlement which, as I said, has the force of an order of the Court.”
This media house had however learnt that the Court-appointed mediator was Attorney-at-Law Angela Inniss-Hodge and that Liburd’s matter was successfully mediated on Wednesday, March 25, 2015.
Following that outcome, Freedom FM Radio had published an apology, which read: “Freedom FM Radio hereby publicly retracts and apologizes for comments made by Dr. Denzil L. Douglas and broadcast on Freedom FM, to the effect that Mr. G.A. Dwyer Astaphan is a racist.
“We regret any damage done to Mr. Astaphan's good name and reputation professionally and personally, and we undertake to never broadcast such comments in the future.”
Reiterating the reason for the lawsuits, Astaphan said: “The reason is for comments Dr. Douglas had made in reference to me, calling me a racist and comments that were aired on Freedom FM which, as far as I know, is owned by Mr. Liburd. And I think for some time it was on the radio’s website.”
Dr. Douglas’ remarks were said to be made in rejection to accusations that he was a dictator.
