WORLD football’s governing body, FIFA, will defend itself against claims made by the ousted former executives of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA).
Yesterday, the Oxford Street, Port of Spain law firm of Dr Claude Denbow SC, filed an ‘Entry Of Appearance’ on behalf of defendant FIFA to the registrar of the High Court of Justice, located at the Hall of Justice, Knox Street, Port of Spain. Filing on behalf of FIFA was instructing attorney Donna Denbow, with Jerome Rajcoomar slated as junior counsel.
FIFA and former executives of the TTFA are headed for legal battle in the local High Court. TTFA president William Wallace and his vice-presidents Clynt Taylor, Susan Joseph-Warrick and Sam Phillip are challenging FIFA’s decision to replace them and institute a FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee, headed by Robert Hadad.
Through local attorneys Dr Emir Crowne and Matthew Gayle, the ex-TTFA executives got local court permission to stake a claim against FIFA, which was emailed to the Switzerland-based organisation last week. Through the local courts, the former TTFA executives are seeking a declaration that FIFA’s decision to remove them from office on March 17, is null and void. The TTFA are also seeking an injunction preventing FIFA and/or its agents from interfering in the day-to-day management of its operations -- including its bank accounts and property.
Yesterday’s action provided the court registrar with a basic requisition of the claim. FIFA’s representative simply had to fill out an ‘Appearance to Claim’ form advising of certain particulars, including whether FIFA will defend the claim. With a simple ‘yes’, FIFA admitted receipt of the TTFA’s claim, dated May 19, 2020.
Point 6 of the ‘Appearance to Claim Form’, filed yesterday by Denbow, asked, ‘Do you intend to defend the claim?’ To that, through its legal representative, FIFA responded ‘yes’. To the question, ‘Do you admit the whole claim?’, FIFA’s response was ‘no’.
FIFA must now file a defence within 28 days of the May 19 date when the claim was served upon them. By defending its position, FIFA also garners irrefutable proof of having been taken to a local court by the TTFA. FIFA rules generally prohibit member Associations from taking it to local courts and put forward suspension(s) as a consequence of such action.
Article 64 of the FIFA statutes require members not to take court action, except through the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
‘The Associations shall insert a clause in their statutes or regulations, stipulating that it is prohibited to take disputes in the Association or disputes affecting Leagues, members of Leagues, clubs, members of clubs, players, officials and other Association Officials to ordinary courts of law,’ the FIFA statute states.
Article 64 further states, ‘Instead of recourse to ordinary courts of law, provision shall be made for arbitration. Such disputes shall be taken to an independent and duly constituted arbitration tribunal recognised under the rules of the Association or Confederation or to CAS.’
Further, point two of Article 13, relating to FIFA members’ obligations, states, ‘Violation of the above-mentioned obligations by any member may lead to sanctions provided for in these statutes’.
ABOVE SOURCE: T&T Express
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Denbow: We will be defending FIFA stoutly.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).
FIFA, the world governing body for football, is set to be defended at all cost for its position to appoint a Normalisation Committee to take charge of local football and thereby ousting the legitimately elected team of president William Wallace, Clynt Taylor, Joseph Sam Phillip and Susan Joseph-Warrick when the case comes up on June 16. FIFA was given 28 days to file its defence which was served on it on May 19.
When contacted yesterday, Donna Denbow, the instructing Attorney on the three-member team of Dr Claude Denbow SC, Jerome Rajcoomar (junior counsel) and herself, told Guardian Media Sports on Wednesday that she believes they have a very strong case against the ousted T&T Football Association (TTFA) executives, which is being represented by the pair of Dr Emir Crowne and Matthew Gayle.
On Tuesday, the Law firm which is situated on Oxford Street in Port-of-Spain filed an Entry of Appearance to the registrar of the High Court at the Hall of Justice on Knox Street.
FIFA on March 17 appointed a normalisation committee to govern T&T football, saying the association faced a very high risk of insolvency and illiquidity. However, Wallace and his team have been attempting to defend itself, by first going through the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, however, their attorneys two weeks ago submitted a complaint of unfair treatment and bias toward the FIFA before the matter started and decided to withdraw they challenge opting to take their fight to the High Court of Trinidad and Tobago.
Denbow (Donna) said her team is currently in the process of putting together its defence, saying they are going to be defending the FIFA stoutly.
"We feel we have a very strong position and we will be coming out punching, we are not buckling down."
Denbow promised they will also be addressing concerns on why and how the FIFA ended up in the High Court when its Statutes clearly state that Member Associations, such as the TTFA, could not take it to the local courts in their respective country. She also believes Gayle, one of two TTFA attorneys, should also explain how the parties ended up in the high court.
Meanwhile, Denbow also took offence to an online report which labelled her firm as the 'Rolls Royce' of the legal profession, describing the report as defamatory. In explaining how her firm was chosen to represent the sport's supreme body, she said FIFA reached out to them.
"We just received a call and asked if we could handle the matter. How these things work is that normally people refer you, they check on you, they google you to see if you are competent and if you are their person, but more often we send our CV up and they would ask a few people, and we came on board. I don't know how they heard of us, we don't know."