Anthony Noel Hosein (formerly Anthony Noel Egbert) (Appellant) v Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago (Respondent) (Trinidad and Tobago)

Hearing listed

Case summary
Appeal

Case summary

Case ID

JCPC/2023/0067

Jurisdiction

Trinidad and Tobago

Parties

Appellant(s)

Anthony Noel Hosein (formerly Anthony Noel Egbert)

Respondent(s)

Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago

Issue

(i) Was the Court of Appeal wrong because it did not overturn the decision of the trial judge to strike out Mr Hosein’s constitutional claim on the basis of various factors, in particular the availability of a parallel remedy and the delay in bringing proceedings? (ii) Was the Court of Appeal wrong to conclude there was no evidence of apparent bias on the part of the trial judge?

Facts

Mr Hosein was employed as an Estate Constable by Caroni Limited (“Caroni”), a state enterprise owned by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, from 1 September 1995 until he was retrenched on 31 August 2003. In January 2003, Caroni was informed that the government had decided to restructure the company and was directed to offer Voluntary Separation Employment Packages (“VSEP”) to its employees. Mr Hosein was initially offered VSEP on 17 February 2003 but before the deadline for accepting it, proceedings were brought that resulted in an interlocutory injunction restraining Caroni from offering VSEP. The dispute was resolved in July 2003, enabling employees to accept VSEP. Mr Hosein agreed with Caroni that he would accept his VSEP on 29 September 2003. On this date, Mr Hosein attended with two members of his trade union but Caroni’s Human Resources Manager responded negatively to the presence of the trade union members. Mr Hosein was then denied the opportunity to accept his VSEP and he was informed on 24 November 2003 that he was retrenched by Caroni as of 31 August 2003. Mr Hosein initially sought redress by filing a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Commission and Equal Opportunity Tribunal in October 2009 on the grounds of race and sex discrimination (Mr Hosein was unable to file his complaint earlier than this due to delays in establishing the Equal Opportunity Commission). A series of proceedings before the Commission and Tribunal then followed, including unsuccessful attempts by the Respondent to strike out Mr Hosein’s claim after he sought to amend his claim to one of victimisation. The proceedings continued until 2020. In 2020, Mr Hosein withdrew his complaint at the Equal Opportunity Tribunal and instead filed a claim against the Respondent in the High Court, alleging a breach of various rights, including the right to due process of the law and the right to equality before the law and equality of treatment. The High Court dismissed the claim and the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. Mr Hosein now appeals to the Privy Council.