3 hours ago
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DEREK ACHONG
Senior Reporter
British marketing consultant Peter Miller has partially succeeded in his lawsuit over being paid for only three months of his two-year, US$25,000-a-month contract with the T&T Football Association (TTFA).
In a judgement delivered yesterday morning, High Court Judge Frank Seepersad upheld Miller’s claim against TTFA trustee Maria Daniel.
While Miller was seeking US$600,000, which represents the salary and benefits he would have received had he been able to complete the contract, Justice Seepersad said he was only entitled to an additional four months’ salary, or US$100,000, as he was only able to prove that he continued to perform work for the TTFA during that period.
The lawsuit centres around Miller’s contract to serve as the TTFA marketing director, which was signed in November 2019.
In late 2021, Miller made a claim for payment of his US$600,000 contract to TTFA trustee Maria Daniel.
Daniel was appointed by the FIFA-appointed normalisation committee, chaired by businessman Robert Hadad, to manage the debt repayment process, which falls under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
Miller filed the lawsuit after Daniel only approved three months’ salary between January and March 2020 and an approximately US$30,000 payment for services rendered by Miller at the time the contract was signed.
Justice Seepersad ruled that Daniel made palpable errors of fact when she “prematurely and unreasonably” determined that he ceased working in March 2020.
“In this court’s view, in assessing the appellant’s proof of claim, the trustee neither maintained an even hand nor did she properly balance the information she received from Mr Hadad, the Normalisation Committee, and from the appellant himself,” Justice Seepersad said.
“The evidence demonstrates that the respondent robotically accepted Mr Hadad’s views, but she displayed scepticism when she reviewed the information provided by the appellant,” he added.
Justice Seepersad decided to assess Miller’s claim instead of remitting it to Daniel for reconsideration, as he pointed out that the latter would result in the already financially strapped TTFA having to pay additional fees to her.
“Having found that the respondent failed to fairly conduct a probing enquiry or to evaluate the evidence which was before her in an even-handed manner, it would not be prudent for her to have any further involvement in this matter,” he said.
In directing the TTFA to pay Miller the US$100,000, Justice Seepersad also ordered that it pay statutory interest and Miller’s legal costs.
A 42-day stay of execution on the payment was granted.
In August 2022, High Court Judge Devindra Rampersad approved a payment proposal, devised by Daniel, to clear the TTFA’s significant debt to creditors and avoid liquidation.
The repayment proposal listed 299 creditors with a total unsecured debt of $84.5 million.
Ninety-three of the creditors submitted claims amounting to $59.3 million, with 88 being validated with a total value of $34.4 million.
The repayment plan was financed using a US$3.5 million interest-free financial instrument, under which the TTFA was given 10 years to repay.
Miller was represented by Bronock Reid, Kiev Chesney, and Mistique Stewart.
Daniel was represented by Kerwyn Garcia, SC, Anora Rampersad, and Chrishaunda Baboolal.
English (US) ·