The legal battle between the Feinstein Group, the Government, and the Fort Point Tourism Village is over, and, now, the landscape of cruise tourism in the Belize District is set to change - in a big way. Justice Courtney Abel today finally made a decision in case, which has been ongoing for months now. He struck down the FSTV's monopoly in the Belize District, thus paving the way for Stake Bank.
You might remember how it all started: Developer Mike Feinstein sought to challenge the monopoly that the FSTV has over cruise tourism in Belize City by claiming that the head tax collected from each passenger, and the way it is shared up, is unlawful. While this case was taking place, however, the Barrow Administration amended the Cruise Ship Passenger Tax Act, and it blocked 3 of Feinstein's grounds for challenging the legality.
That only left 2 other very important matters. As we told you, the former Musa Government agreed in an extension contract with the owners of FSTV that if and when the Stake Bank Project comes online, FSTV will be able to get a portion of the head tax collected from passengers moving through Stake Bank. That meant that even though FSTV was not part of the effort and business of moving those passengers into Belize City, they would still be paid. Feinstein claimed in court that this and other restrictions would cripple the financial viability of his project, and so he could not agree to these terms that the Government signed.
Next, as we told you, the Barrow Administration has already passed the Stake Bank Cruise Docking Facility Development Bill. They haven't brought it into effect as a law, however, because they expect that the FSTV owners would sue them for breach of contract. That could mean an award of millions of dollars in damages. So, to handle that, the Barrow Government was trying to convince Mike Feinstein to grant them an indemnity against any such lawsuits. Effectively, GOB was asking them to take the force of the blow form any lawsuit for them to bring the Stakebank law into effect.
The court has ruled on both of those issues, and right after the written judgements were handed down, we were outside to speak with the attorneys from both cruise interests. Here's what they have to say:
Rodwell Williams, SC - attorney for FSTV
"There was a claim for 5 declarations and he granted 2 declarations out of 5. He refused the 3 and granted 2 declarations. So a kind of like split decisions I would want to think and then there were cost orders. I don't know what's to answer the question that you posed. I don't know the answer, but I would hope and expect that negotiations could now earnestly begin. But I don't have an answer as to the implication for that particular project."
Andrew Marshalleck, SC - Attorney for Feinstein Group
"They wanted an indemnity in respect of possible claims by FSTV alleging breach of these clauses. These clauses include. 1) Which says that FSTV to be the only port of entry for cruise ship passengers in the Belize District. That has been found to be unlawful. That falls away. That obstacle doesn't exist anymore and the second one having to do with head taxes was that the head taxes payable in respect to passengers visiting Stake Bank, would still be shared with FSTV. Again, that has fallen away, because the act did not go that far. The act expressly provides for head taxes to be collected and share between FSTV and the government only in respect to those passengers that are tendered to the village. You see the fundamental difference. There has been some gain for our prospective and we say that it clears the way now for the last remaining terms of investment agreement to be settled. You will have competing businesses and it's the customer who gets to choose which they want to use. We think that given a choice between docking and tendering, the choice will be obvious."
So, the monopoly that FSTV has been enjoying over the cruise tourism is set to be broken. Both sides are expected to go back to the negotiating table to try to work out a compromise where they might co-exist together.
But, there is still a wrinkle, the Government must bring the Stakebank Law into effect which might not happen since FSTV may sue them, and they have no indemnity from Mike Feinstein. It will be interesting to see how this issue further develops because even though this is a private dispute, it's in the public realm where hundreds of jobs from independent tour operators and businesspersons hang in the balance.
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