AUDREY CHIN and LASCELLES CHINBarbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
The legal battle between Lascelles Chin, chief executive officer of the multimillion-dollar company Lasco Foods Ltd., and his ex-wife Audrey Chin, is heading for the United Kingdom Privy Council.
Mr. Chin is challenging a Court of Appeal
ruling that Mrs. Chin is entitled to a half of the company.
He will be asking the Court of Appeal to stay its order that the chartered accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers must value the shares.
Mr. Chin explained in court documents filed this week in the Court of Appeal Registry that the cost of the valuation will be in excess of $5 million. He said he had been advised that his appeal had merit and a real chance of success. Mr. Chin explained that if the valuation took place and he was successful on appeal, then money spent on valuation would be wasted.
The company was formed on February 21, 1986, and the Chins got married the following day. The company was first called Versatile Packing Ltd. but it was later renamed. The marriage ended in 1994 and in 1996 Mrs. Chin brought a suit under the Married Women's Property Act seeking half of the shares in the company. Mr. Chin contended that Mrs. Chin, who is a chartered accountant, was merely an employee in the company. Mr. Chin said Mrs. Chin was only entitled to one share while he was entitled to 249,999 shares.
Mrs. Chin lost her case in the Supreme Court when Justice Seymour Panton ruled that she was entitled to only one share.
Lawyers representing the parties had turned down Justice Panton's request for evidence to be given on oath and the case was then decided on the affidavits and supporting documents. Mrs. Chin appealed and the Court of Appeal ruled in her favour.
Mr. Chin took the case to the United Kingdom Privy Council which sent back the case to the Supreme Court for the witnesses to give evidence on oath by being cross-examined.
Mrs Chin entitled to half
Justice Neville Clarke (now deceased), after hearing evidence under cross-examination, ruled in December 2001 that Mrs. Chin was entitled to a half of the shares. Mr. Chin took the case to the Court of Appeal and the Court of Appeal, comprising Justice Donald Bingham (now retired), Justice Algernon Smith and Justice Karl Harrison, handed down its unanimous decision on December 20 last year. Mr. Chin was ordered to pay Mrs. Chin's legal costs.
In handing down its decision the Court of Appeal referred to the roles Mrs. Chin played in the company and said: "When one takes into consideration that her involvement in this regard was carried out without any compensation for her services, as a chartered accountant with good career prospects, the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from her conduct was that it was founded on her belief that she was to have an equal share in the assets of the company."
