Sacha Singh to pay reduced costs in exemption request lawsuit

Businesswoman Sacha Singh will only have to pay a fraction of the State’s costs, even though she failed to convince a judge that the Minister of National Security's delay in determining her application for exemption to return to TT in June 2020, at the height of the covid19 pandemic, was unreasonable.

On Monday, Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell ordered Singh to pay 30 per cent of the State’s costs certified for one senior counsel and one junior counsel.

In her ruling, she said Singh’s judicial review challenge was reasonable and in the national interest.

She also pointed out that both parties failed to properly use the pre-action protocol stage. Singh, she said, did not give the State sufficient time for discussions, while the minister failed to provide a meaningful response as would be practicable in the time allowed.

In her costs ruling, the judge said, “…It is appropriate in this case that the unsuccessful applicant pay the costs of the respondent but not the full costs.”

In December 2020, Donaldson-Honeywell dismissed Singh’s judicial review application, refusing her leave to challenge the failure by the minister to grant her an exemption in time.

Donaldson-Honeywell rejected Singh’s allegations of bias and unfairness.

In her ruling, she admitted each case concerning the exemption process was different, but said she “recognised the difficulty of the situation facing citizens of Trinidad and Tobago abroad including, I am sure, those known to all of us; relatives, friends, colleagues, unfortunately, are trapped abroad.

“It really is unfortunate and unimaginable for me to understand what it would be like to not be able to return to your home country. It is an unfortunate situation. It is unprecedented but it is part of the difficult restrictions that we are all facing,” the judge said at the time.

“As you see, we cannot even attend court. We are operating from various places. There is no in-person court attendance. We cannot readily enter the court buildings.

“We do not have access to hard copy files. It is a very difficult situation and it is caused by this global deadly pandemic and the measures that need to be taken to protect all of us. It is very unfortunate for the persons affected by the restrictions.”

Singh was represented by attorneys Naveen Maraj and Varun Dabideen. Reginald Armour, SC, Vanessa Gopaul, Laura Persad, Raphael Ajodhia and Adana Hosang represented the State.