A former magistrate’s legal challenge against the Virgin Islands government may be heard by the territory’s highest court, judges ruled Monday.
Charmaine Rosan-Bunbury, who served as a magistrate from 2008 until her interdiction in 2011 for alleged insubordination, received permission from the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of Appeal to take her lawsuit against the Judicial and Legal Services Commission to the London-based Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Judges with the High Court and the Court of Appeal who have reviewed the lawsuit —which seeks a judicial review of the decision to interdict Ms. Rosan-Bunbury — have previously ruled against the former magistrate.
Attorney General’s Chambers Crown Counsel Maya Barry, who represents the JLSC, called Ms. Rosan-Bunbury’s request for judicial review “academic” given that she has since been dismissed from her government post.
But the Crown counsel added that the AG’s Chambers wouldn’t oppose the request to have the Privy Council hear the case. After hearing that, Court of Appeal Justice Davidson Baptiste said that Ms. Rosan-Bunbury can proceed with her claim as long as she follows the Privy Council’s procedure.
Ms. Rosan-Bunbury has frequently appeared before the Court of Appeal and the High Court in recent months, occasionally representing herself in lawsuits she has filed against government and judicial officials in response to her 2011 interdiction and later dismissal. These legal actions include a lawsuit against her former employers in which she is seeking at least $27.6 million in damages for her alleged wrongful dismissal. The suit has yet to be heard before the courts.
See the May 1, 2014 edition for full coverage.