11 results for 'judge:"Cabret"'.
J. Cabret finds the superior court erred in its judgment in a dispute between a property owner and a former tenant over a land contract for the purchase of multiple plots on the owner's property. With its order for a judgment of $283,945 in favor of the property owner, the superior court improperly reduced the owner's damages based on the premise that she violated the parties' 2011 agreement, including by the manner in which she collected rent payments from a different tenant. The owner is entitled to collect the entirety of the debt the former tenant owes, so the portions of the superior court's judgment finding in the tenant's favor on his counterclaims is reversed and the matter is remanded to calculate the owner's total damages. Reversed in part.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 2024 VI 22, Categories: Landlord Tenant, Property, Contract
J. Cabret finds the superior court properly entered an amended judgment in the property owner's favor in a dispute with her neighbor in part over payment of property taxes for properties on their adjacent plots. The superior court's judgment calling for reimbursement of property taxes paid by the property owner was the most equitable result given the competing interests of both parties, and the court did not abuse its discretion. Affirmed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 2024 VI 21, Categories: Property, Tax
J. Cabret finds the superior court committed no error in denying defendant's habeas corpus petition he filed after he was convicted of rape, murder and other charges and sentenced to life in prison. There is nothing in the record to suggest that defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial was violated, in part because although the superior court incorrectly found that six of the 11 delays that caused a 27-month gap between defendant's arrest and trial were the fault of defendant, the delays caused by the prosecution were largely out of its control or due to negligence that does not support defendant's claims. Affirmed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: April 3, 2024, Case #: 2024 VI 16, Categories: Habeas, Murder, Speedy Trial
J. Cabret finds the superior court properly entered orders dismissing without prejudice and compelling arbitration in the employee's lawsuit in part claiming he was wrongfully fired by the resort company. The employee incorrectly argues that the parties' arbitration agreement only covers "previously asserted claims" and not the claims in his lawsuit. Because the plain language of the agreement clearly includes the employee's claims, and because he has failed to show the agreement is unconscionable, the superior court's orders stand even though it made an error in holding that the agreement is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act. Affirmed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: February 9, 2024, Case #: 2024 VI 11, Categories: Arbitration, Employment, Contract
J. Cabret finds the superior court properly confirmed a more than $1 million arbitration award in favor of the construction firm in its dispute with the condo association over payment for wastewater and sewerage services the firm provided. In part because the association failed to timely challenge the correctness of the award within the three-month limitation established in the Federal Arbitration Act, the superior court's judgments affirming the arbitration award stand. Affirmed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 2024 VI 10, Categories: Arbitration, Contract
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J. Cabret finds the superior court properly affirmed the employee relations board's decision excluding two union workers from a collective bargaining unit because of their status as "confidential employees," meaning they have access to confidential labor matters not known to the union which could unfairly affect negotiations over collective bargaining. In part because both workers classify as "political appointees" with access to confidential information under the relevant statute, the board's decision is supported by substantial evidence and was properly upheld, even though the superior court committed harmless error by relying on federal law and the "labor-nexus test" rather than the relevant statute. Affirmed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 2024 VI 9, Categories: Agency, Labor / Unions
J. Cabret finds the superior court properly granted summary judgment to the property owner in the tenants' lawsuit attempting to gain title to the owner's property through adverse possession after having lived there rent-free for more than 15 years because they could not locate the owner to pay rent while he was away on military service and did not know the property was occupied. In part because of the disrepair of the property from damages sustained from Hurricane Hugo in 1989, the fact that the tenants began living in the property in the 1970s as permissive tenants, and the tenants have not proven the required hostility factor for their adverse possession claim, the superior court's order stands. Affirmed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: January 18, 2024, Case #: 2024 VI 7, Categories: Landlord Tenant, Contract
J. Cabret finds the superior court improperly denied defendant's motion for reconsideration of a final order that ended his probation, closed the juvenile case in which he originally pleaded guilty to assault as a minor and put him in custody of the Department of Health Services for supervision. The superior court went beyond its statutory authority when, without prompting, it cancelled defendant's final hearing, closed his case and placed him with the department for continued supervision, so the case is remanded for it to follow the proper procedures to extend, modify, revoke or terminate his probation. Reversed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 2024 VI 3, Categories: Juvenile Law, Probation, Assault
J. Cabret finds the superior court improperly denied the citizen's post-judgment motion contesting the seizure of his truck by Virgin Islands Marshals in the course of seizing his relative's personal and real property assets after the entry of a $1.3 million judgment in the trust's favor. The superior court erred by allowing the seizure of the citizen's truck to satisfy the judgment, as the underlying judgment did not specifically allow it to be seized. On remand the superior court is ordered to grant the release of the truck. Reversed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 2023 VI 17, Categories: Property, Enforcement Of Judgments
J. Cabret finds against the government hospital in its appeal of a superior court order denying its motion for a bench trial in the patient's lawsuit over what he claims was the hospital's staff's negligence in failing to properly diagnose and treat his broken pelvis after he was in a car accident. Because the question of whether the hospital is entitled to a bench trial instead of a jury trial given of its potential waiver of sovereign immunity and the details of the Tort Claims Act is "effectively reviewable" after the lower court's final judgment, essential requirements for review are not satisfied and there is not yet jurisdiction to hear the hospital's interlocutory appeal, which is dismissed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 2023 VI 11, Categories: Tort, Jurisdiction, Medical Malpractice
J. Cabret finds the superior court erred by not making specific factual findings or conclusions of law or referencing the record and the parties' arguments in its decision enforcing a mediated settlement agreement in the property owner's lawsuit against his two brothers over their shared stakes and right to use their inherited property. The court vacates the superior court's decision, which in part would have forced the owner to execute a contract to sell the property to one of his brothers, and the case is remanded for the superior court to enter a new order.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 2023 VI 8, Categories: Property, Contract