The Court of Ap­peal has sought to fi­nal­ly re­solve a long-stand­ing le­gal dis­pute be­tween two neigh­bours from cen­tral Trinidad over the con­struc­tion of a bound­ary wall sep­a­rat­ing their prop­er­ties. 

De­liv­er­ing an oral rul­ing at the end of a vir­tu­al ap­peal on Wednes­day, Ap­pel­late Judges Gre­go­ry Smith, Mi­ra Dean-Ar­mor­er and Vasheist Kokaram dis­missed Kalam and Sha­reefa Mo­hamed’s ap­peal against Noor and Neisha Ho­sein and their com­pa­ny In­dia Fash­ions. 

The dis­pute be­tween the par­ties over the wall be­tween their prop­er­ties at Ack­bar Road in Char­lieville, be­gan al­most two decades ago. 

In 2008, the par­ties en­tered a con­sent or­der in which they agreed to dis­con­tin­ue the case un­der the agree­ment that the Ho­seins would build a con­crete wall where a chain-link fence sep­a­rat­ing the prop­er­ties pre­vi­ous­ly ex­ist­ed. 

Eight years af­ter the wall was com­plet­ed, the Mo­hameds filed sep­a­rate lit­i­ga­tion claim­ing that it was con­struct­ed in breach of the or­der as a sur­vey re­port was re­quired to de­ter­mine the prop­er­ty bound­ary where the wall should be con­struct­ed. 

The case was ini­tial­ly dis­missed by a High Court Judge lead­ing the Mo­hameds to file an ap­peal. 

Kokaram, who de­liv­ered the ap­peal pan­el’s de­ci­sion in the case, ruled that the judge was cor­rect to dis­miss the case. 

Kokaram point­ed out that un­der the terms of the or­der, the par­ties agreed that the wall would be con­struct­ed along the area where the fence pre­vi­ous­ly stood and that a sur­vey­or would on­ly be utilised to de­ter­mine the height of the wall. 

He al­so not­ed that a sur­vey­or’s re­port pre­pared be­fore the con­sent or­der was agreed up­on showed that the ex­ist­ing fence slight­ly en­croached on the Ho­seins’ prop­er­ty. 

“The agree­ment re­solved the dis­pute am­i­ca­bly and there was there­fore no need to com­mis­sion an­oth­er sur­vey to de­ter­mine where the wall was to go,” Kokaram said. 

He not­ed that even if the Mo­hameds were suc­cess­ful in the ap­peal, it would not have re­solved the dis­pute as the wall would have to be de­mol­ished and a new sur­vey done, which could pos­si­bly show that the wall was in fact at the cor­rect lo­ca­tion. 

“At every lev­el of our courts, we all dis­ap­prove of lit­i­ga­tion where the costs of pur­su­ing it far out­weighs the val­ue of the claim and its util­i­ty,” he said. 

Kokaram ex­pressed con­cern that the pan­el’s de­ci­sion would not as­sist in quelling the long-stand­ing dis­pute be­tween the par­ties. 

“I am mind­ful it may not bring peace be­tween these neigh­bours. It may not be the end of their hos­til­i­ties, but that is the re­al­i­ty of our so­ci­ety,” he said. 

De­spite his con­cerns, he still en­cour­aged the par­ties to in­tro­spect and move on from their dis­pute. 

“I want the par­ties to un­der­stand that they have reached a point where they need to find peace, if not with one an­oth­er, peace with­in them­selves,” Kokaram said. 

“While there may be no win­ners here in that con­text I want both par­ties walk­ing away say­ing we can re­flect on who we are and who we can be in the fu­ture,” he added. 

As part of the pan­el’s de­ci­sion, it or­dered that the Mo­hameds pay the Ho­seins’ le­gal costs for de­fend­ing the law­suit. 

The Mo­hameds were rep­re­sent­ed by Gre­go­ry Delzin while Fyard Ho­sein, SC, Anil Maraj and Aadam Ho­sein rep­re­sent­ed the Ho­seins.

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From left, Radio commercial manager Tova Satnarine with members of her team (front row) SKY 99.5 FM brand manager Asha St Bernard (Back Row), Sangeet 106.1 FM brand manager Daniella Ali, VIBE CT105 FM’s Norman Chuckaree, SLAM 100.5FM radio personality DJ Dani, 95.1FM radio personality DJ Brad, Sangeet 106.1FM account executive Tasha Bhagarathi and SLAM 100.5 FM account executive Afiya James during the T&T Guardian’s 105th anniversary staff celebration.

From left, Radio commercial manager Tova Satnarine with members of her team (front row) SKY 99.5 FM brand manager Asha St Bernard (Back Row), Sangeet 106.1 FM brand manager Daniella Ali, VIBE CT105 FM’s Norman Chuckaree, SLAM 100.5FM radio personality DJ Dani, 95.1FM radio personality DJ Brad, Sangeet 106.1FM account executive Tasha Bhagarathi and SLAM 100.5 FM account executive Afiya James during the T&T Guardian’s 105th anniversary staff celebration.

Children doing their homework and studying.

Children doing their homework and studying.

Designer - Stacey Weekes-Benjamin, Diane Carlton Caribbean. Photography by: TANGE Studios

Designer - Stacey Weekes-Benjamin, Diane Carlton Caribbean. Photography by: TANGE Studios

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