NOW's former creative team demands outstanding payments

THREE former members of the NOW political party’s creative team have sent a pre-action protocol letter seeking outstanding payments owed to them for work done since February.

The letter was sent to attorney Vincent Patterson by attorney Darryl Heeralal who said there was no dispute the three – Nicole Martin, Quincy Ross and Richard Lewis – were in a contractual relationship with NOW’s leader Kirk Waite.

According to the exchange of letters between Patterson and Heeralal there is some contention over who hired the three. Patterson asserts that the three were in a contractual relationship with NOW, as a political organisation, and the three were obliged to provide detailed invoices of work done in order to be paid since payments are dependent on “charitable donations.”

The three said the work done was for NOW’s advertising campaign. They said they received full payment for work done in January and partial payment for February in April.

Heeralal says he has been instructed that his clients entered a personal contract with Waite to do work for NOW, as opposed to them being hired by the party.

He has asked for full disclosure of documents, including minutes and consent, from NOW’s executive authorising Waite to negotiate contracts on its behalf and written communication between the party’s leader and the three to show he was acting on behalf of NOW when he entered into the contract with his clients.

Heeralal also said his client took umbrage to repeated and baseless allegations made about his client’s integrity.

On Thursday, NOW posted a response to Heeralal’s letter on its Facebook page.

It said a formal legal response will be forthcoming shortly but affirmed its continued commitment to honouring its financial and contractual obligations.

“As a political party we also affirm our commitment to fiscal responsibility and ensuring that our obligations are met in a responsible and formal manner.”

On Friday, Heeralal again wrote to Patterson to objecting to the post on the party's social media account and calling for the matter to be amicably settled.

He also mentioned seeking advice on whether the statements made about him in the post amounted to defamation.