Former T&T Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace and his team have secured an injunction blocking an extraordinary general meeting of the association's members, which was scheduled for Tuesday.
The injunction was granted by High Court Judge Carol Gobin on Monday as a lawsuit brought by Wallace and his team against FIFA, over their removal and replacement by a Normalisation Committee led by businessman Robert Hadad, came up for virtual hearing.
Presenting the injunction application, Wallace's lawyer Matthew Gayle claimed that the meeting, which was requisitioned by T&T Football Referees Association (T&TFRA) vice president Osmond Downer and facilitated by the committee, would have sought to challenge their authority to bring the claim and have it withdrawn.
Gayle suggested that under the TTFA's constitution, it was elected members such as Wallace and his team who were required to call the meeting upon requisition and that the committee, as FIFA delegates, could only act on it if they had not within 30 days.
Gayle suggested that the meeting was set before the deadline had elapsed and was seeking to usurp the functions of the court.
The application was not opposed by Senior Counsel Christopher Hamel-Smith, who led for FIFA and by extension the committee's legal team.
During the hearing, Hamel-Smith applied for a stay of the proceedings pending his client's appeal over Gobin's decision to refuse its bid to have the case dismissed over a lack of jurisdiction.
FIFA had claimed that by virtue of TTFA's membership with it and under the provisions of its constitution, it (TTFA) had agreed to forgo litigation in local courts in favour of proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which, like FIFA, is based in Switzerland.
Hamel-Smith noted that his client is maintaining its position and that by participating in the continued case before her, through filing a defence, may compromise it.
Gobin disagreed, as she noted her directions for the case to be determined expeditiously while the appeal was being pursued were not appealed and were still valid.
Gobin stated that FIFA would not be prejudiced, as any decision made by her in the case may be rendered null and void if the Court of Appeal disagrees with her ruling when it hears the appeal on October 21. She also questioned if FIFA was employing time-wasting tactics.
"Is it that your client is playing for extra time?" Gobin said.
In rejecting the application, Gobin extended the time for FIFA to file its defence to Friday, as it had missed its original deadline of September 4. She also set a tentative trial date of October 9 in the event the defence is not filed and a corresponding reply is not required.
ABOVE SOURCE: T&T Guardian
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United TTFA gets injunction to stop Sept 15 meeting
Jada Loutoo (Newsday).
THE ousted TT Football Association (TTFA) executive has been granted an injunction to stop Tuesday’s extraordinary general meeting of TTFA members which is being facilitated by the FIFA normalisation committee, headed by businessman Robert Hadad.
Justice Carol Gobin on Monday granted the injunction which remains in place until an October 9 hearing of the challenge of the ousted TTFA executive, led by William Wallace, against the normalisation committee’s power over the local football.
Gobin also refused FIFA a stay of her previous order for it to file a defence in the matter filed by Wallace and his team. The world governing body was given until Friday to file its defence failing which the matter goes to trial on October 9.
An appeal of the judge's earlier ruling in August will be heard on October 21.
In its application for the injunction, Wallace and his deputies Clynt Taylor, Susan Joseph-Warrick and Joseph Sam Phillip, who are members of the United TTFA team that took over the helm of the TTFA at its annual general meeting in November 2019 argued that the meeting which was scheduled for Tuesday, was “illegal.”
The TTFA executive was removed by FIFA and replaced by the normalisation committee on March 17 owing to mounting TTFA debt and "a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity."
Tuesday’s meeting was called to address United TTFA's contentious High Court battle against FIFA. The world governing body insists the Court of Arbitration for Sport is the sole body authorised to handle disputes between FIFA and member associations. FIFA gave TTFA a September 16 deadline to withdraw the matter from the local court of face suspension proceedings.
Wallace and his team are represented by Dr Emir Crowne, Matthew Gayle, Crystal Paul and Jason Jones while Senior Counsel Christopher Hamel-Smith and Jonathan Walker.