Ricardo Pratt v West End Resort, Ltd

• Jurisdiction: Bahamas
• Judge: Winder, CJ
• Judgment Date: 08 February 2024
• Docket Number: 2020/CLE/gen/FP/00102
• Court: Supreme Court (Bahamas)

Between

Ricardo Pratt

(In his capacity as Administrator of the Estate of Ruel Pratt)

Plaintiff

and

West End Resort, Limited

Defendant

Before:

The Hon. Chief Justice Sir Ian R. Winder

2020/CLE/gen/FP/00102

IN THE SURPREME COURT

Common Law & Equity Division

Appearances:

Ricardo Pratt, pro se

Robert Adams KC with Samuel Brown for the Defendant

Winder, CJ

1 This is a title dispute. The plaintiff, who sues in a representative capacity, claims to have a better title than the defendant to several tracts of land situated in Western Grand Bahama, The Bahamas.

2 The action was commenced by Specially Indorsed Writ of Summons. The Statement of Claim indorsed thereon, seeks the following relief:

• (i) An Order, that the Plaintiff has a better documentary title to the tract of land originally granted to John D. Smith as containing 146.0 acres more or less; and the tract of land originally granted to John D. Smith as containing 500.0 acres more or less, than the Defendant and its predecessors in title or successors in title;

• (ii) An Order, that the Indenture of Conveyance dated 31 December 2007 and made between the Defendant and Ginn-LA OBB Limited (now known as LRA-OBB Limited) and recorded in the Registry of Records in Volume 10319, pages 1–49, is a forged document of title for portions of the tracts of land originally granted to John D. Smith, and the purported conveyance and all subsequent conveyances are all null void and of no effect in law or in equity; and or are all void pursuant to the Fraudulent Conveyances Act;

• (iii) An Order, that the Supplemental Conveyance dated I February 2010 and made between the Defendant and LRA-OBB Limited and recorded in the Registry of Records Volume 11211, pages 116–127, is a forged document of title for portions of the 146.0 acres of land originally granted to John D. Smith, and called and known as Marina & Waterways within Old Bahama Bay, and the conveyance and all subsequent conveyances are all null and void and of no effect in law or in equity; and or are all void pursuant to the Fraudulent Conveyances Act;

• (iv) An Order, that the Defendant and none of its purported predecessors in title or successors in title nor interest in any portion of the tracts of land which were originally granted by the Crown to John D. Smith his heirs and assigns by a Crown Grant dated 8 May 1818 and recorded in Volume L. 1, page 146; nor the Crown Grant dated 12 June 1817 and recorded in Volume L.I, page 122;

• (v) An Order, that the Indenture of Conveyance dated 1 July 1997 and made between Grand Bahama Hotel Company and the Defendant and recorded in the Registry of Records in Volume 7194, pages 426 to 433 (“1997 GB Hotel to WERL Conveyance”), is a forged document of title for the tract of land originally granted to John D Smith as containing 146.0 acres more or less, and the conveyance and all subsequent conveyances are all null void and of no effect in law or in equity; and or are all void pursuant to the Fraudulent Conveyances Act;

• (vi) An Order, that the Indenture of Conveyance dated 9 March 2006 and made between Grand Bahama Hotel Company and the Defendant and recorded in the Registry of Records in Volume 9641, pages 486 to 496 (“2006 GB Hotel to WERL Conveyance”), is a forged document of title for a 78.0 acre tract of land that forms a part of the tract of land originally granted to John D. Smith as containing 500.0 acres more or less, and the purported conveyance and all subsequent conveyances are all null void and of no effect in law or in equity; and or are all void pursuant to the Fraudulent Conveyances Act;

• (vii) An Order, that the Indenture of Conveyance dated 4 May 1959 and made between Grand Bahama Properties Limited and Charles Sammons and recorded in the Registry of Records Volume 184, pages 118 to 135 (“1959 Conveyance”), is a forged document of title for portions of the John D Smith Tracts and the conveyance and all subsequent conveyances are all null void and of no effect in law or in equity; and or are all void pursuant to the Fraudulent Conveyances Act;

• (viii) An Order, that the devise(s) in the Last Will and Testament of the late Horatio Wilchcombe dated 24 January 1906 are void on the ground(s) that it offends the Rule against Perpetuities and the Last Will fails; and that at the date of his death, the late Horatio Wilchcombe was not the owner in fee simple in possession of the tract of land originally granted to John D. Smith as containing 146.0 acres more or less, nor the tract of land originally granted to John D. Smith as containing 500.0 acres more or less, and the Wilchcombe Will cannot form a good title to the John D. Smith Tracts nor any portion thereof;

• (ix) An Order for possession of the tract of land originally granted to John D. Smith as containing 146.0 acres more or less (or portions thereof), and the tract of land originally granted to John D. Smith as containing 500.0 acres more or less (or portions thereof), or alternatively recovery of possession of the said tracts on behalf of the Plaintiff, in accordance with Section 30 of the Limitation Act.

• (x) An Injunction to restrain the Defendant, whether by themselves or by their agents or servants, assigns successors in title or interest or otherwise, until Judgment in this action or until further Order in the meantime, from doing the following acts or any of them that is to say:-

  • (a) being or remaining or entering upon or crossing or trespassing over the tract of land originally granted to John D. Smith as containing 146.0 acres more or less and the tract of land originally granted to John D. Smith as containing 500.0 acres more or less (“the Property”) or any part thereof;

  • (b) assaulting, molesting, annoying or otherwise interfering with the Plaintiff, his guests, invitees or permitted users enjoyment of the Property or any part thereof;

  • (c) constructing, erecting or re-erecting any building or structure upon the Property or any part thereof;

  • (d) cutting, clearing, destroying, damaging or tearing down any tree, bush, plant or shrub situated on the Property or any part thereof;

  • (e) establish or pave roads situated on the Property or any part thereof;

  • (f) commencing construction, or clearing the Property or any part thereof;

  • (g) advertising or caused to be advertised for sale the Property, or any part thereof entering into any contract or other agreement to sell or grant an option to purchase or otherwise charging, mortgaging or disposing of or any part of the Property or any interest therein on behalf of themselves and or any other person;

• (xi) An Injunction to restrain the Defendant or any of its successors in title from exercising any rights of ownership, interest or title with respect to the tract of land originally granted to John D. Smith as containing 146.0 acres more or less and the tract of land originally to John D. Smith as containing 500.0 acres more or less or any part thereof, on behalf of themselves and or any other person;

• (xii) Damages as against the Defendant, for the continuing wrongful interference with the Plaintiff's rights of title or property, and or use and enjoyment of the John D. Smith Tracts (or portions thereof);

• (xiii) Damages as against the Defendant for continuing economic loss;

• (xiv) User Damages as against the Defendant for continuing trespass, having used portions of the John D. Smith Tracts, for its pecuniary benefit or to obtain money or profit;

• (xv) An accounting of all sums of money obtained by the Defendant of the profits made from the use of any part of the John D. Smith Tracts;

• (xvi) Mesne profits from the Defendant;

• (xvii) Interest;

• (xviii) Costs; and

• (xix) Such further or other relief as the Court may seem just.

3 Paragraphs 11 and 12 of the Statement of Claim sets out the plaintiff's purported interest in the John D Smith Tracts as follows:

• 11. The Plaintiff by virtue of being an assign referred to in the John D Smith Crown Grants and or by virtue of other documents of title, has a better documentary title to the John D Smith Tracts than [the Defendant], and or any of its purported successors in title.

  PARTICULARS

  (i) The Plaintiff repeats paragraph 3 herein.

• 12. The Plaintiff, by virtue of various documents of title including Agreements for Sale and or Assignments of Agreements for Sale, has better documentary title to the 146.0 acre John D Smith Tract or portions thereof than WERL.

  PARTICULARS

  (i) By an agreement for Sale made between Anthony Cooper (in his capacity as Administrator of the Estate of Julia Ann Ash) and Ricardo F Pratt (in his capacity as Administrator of the Estate of Ruel Pratt), the Estate of Julia Ann Ash sold all of the right title and interest of the Vendor in the John D Smith Tracts.

4 The defendant denies that the plaintiff has a better documentary title to, and is the owner of, the fee simple estate in the tracts of land originally granted to John D. Smith by the Crown and challenges the standing of the plaintiff to pursue this claim.

5 It is accepted that the 500 acres and the 146 acres comprising the John D. Smith Tracts were granted to the late John D. Smith, his heirs and assigns, by the Crown Grants dated 12 June 1817 and 8 May 1818 respectively. The means by which the plaintiff says that he has acquired better documentary title to the property than the defendant may be distilled into the following:

It is only however items (1) and (2) which are pleaded in the action. This is not surprising as the purported assignments were not in existence at the time the action was commenced.

• (1) As ‘an assign referred to in the John D. Smith Crown Grants’ (Paragraph 11, Statement of Claim);

• (2) By virtue of an Agreement for Sale made between Anthony Cooper (in his capacity as...