Emmerton Lane Residents Nearing Financial Settlement in Lawsuit against Barbados Water Authority

A financial settlement could soon be realised for several residents of Emmerton Lane in St Michael and neighbouring environs who suffered for many years from a foul odour which emanated from the Bridgetown Sewage Treatment Plant (BSTP).

The Barbados Water Authority (BWA), which is named as the defendant in the lawsuit, has long ago accepted liability but a major bone of contention surrounded if all of the 165 people named in the lawsuit were entitled to compensation.

Nineteen years after attorney-at-law Robert “Bobby” Clarke, now deceased, brought the civil lawsuit claiming damages for those individuals, High Court Judge Michelle Weekes last Wednesday settled the vexing issue, finally paving the way for attorneys to sanitise the long list and proceed to the settlement stage.

The judge clarified a 2018 consent order made by Acting Judge Alrick Scott, who ruled that “Judgement be entered for the plaintiffs for damages for nuisance”.

Following arguments from Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, who now appears on behalf of the plaintiffs and attorney-at-law Ona Harewood, who represented the BWA, Weekes determined that Justice Scott’s order: “Applies only to those residents of Emmerton and its environs (inclusive of Chapman Lane, and Lakes Folly, all in The City of Bridgetown) with demonstrable and exclusive possession of the properties negatively affected by the harmful fumes and other offensive odours created by the BSTP’s operations.”