Montserrat Electricity Services Ltd v Latour

• Jurisdiction: Montserrat
• Court: Court of Appeal (Montserrat)
• Judge: St. Bernard J.A.
• Judgment Date: 17 January 1984
• Neutral Citation: MS 1984 CA 3
• Docket Number: Civil Appeal No. T1 of 1983
• Date: 17 January 1984

Court of Appeal

Berridge, C.J. (Ag.); Robotham, J.A.; Bishopo, J.A. (Ag.)

Civil Appeal No. T1 of 1983

Montserrat Electricity Services Ltd.

and

Latour

Practice and procedure - Appeal against judgment of the Labour Tribunal, where no reasons were given — Whether the failure of the respondent to adhere to safety regulations amounted to gross misconduct — The conduct of the company amounted to gross misconduct — Appeal allowed.

1 St. Bernard J.A. (Ag.): The appellant was charged with two offences of dangerous driving under section 53 (10 of the Vehicles and road Traffic Ordinance Chapter 249 of the Revised Laws of Montserrat.

2 The charges were that on the 18 ^th of December, 1969, at Groves in the Parish of Saint Anthony in the Colony of Montserrat the appellant, being the driver of a certain motor vehicle, did drive the said vehicle numbered M 636 on the Groves Public Road at a speed and in a manner which was dangerous to the public having regard to all the circumstances prevailing on the road at the time.

3 He was convicted on both of these charges on the 20 ^th of February, 1970, and on one charge was fined $80.00 and on the other he was disqualified from holding a license for 6 months. He has appealed from both these convictions and the two appeals for convenience are heard together. His grounds of appeal, which are the same in both cases, are:–

• (a) that the decision was unreasonable and cannot be supported having regard to the evidence; and

• (b) that the judgment or sentence passed was based on a wrong principle or was such that the magistrate viewing the circumstances reasonably could not properly have so...