Devendranath Hurnam (Appellant) v PV Veerabudren (Respondent) (Mauritius)

Hearing listed

Case summary
Appeal

Case summary

Case ID

JCPC/2023/0087

Jurisdiction

Mauritius

Parties

Appellant(s)

Devendranath Hurnam

Respondent(s)

Princilla Vanishee Veerabudren

Issue

Is the Appellant’s claim against a magistrate under section 6 of the Public Officers’ Protection Act 1957 barred by a principle of judicial immunity and/or the Mauritian Civil Code of Procedure?

Facts

On 8 April 2019, the Appellant appeared as the claimant in a case before two magistrates. The Respondent was one of those magistrates and postponed the hearing to 29 May 2019. The Appellant then requested that a time be fixed for the postponed hearing. A verbal exchange between the Appellant and Respondent followed, in which the Respondent allegedly “showed her muscles”, “yelled” and then sighed an expletive. That exchange is the basis of the current claim. On 5 July 2019, the Appellant brought a claim against the Respondent seeking Rs 1 million in damages, on the basis of her alleged misconduct during the exchange. The trial court (“TC”) determined as a preliminary issue that judicial immunity applied to the Respondent’s comments during the exchange. The TC therefore dismissed the claim. The Supreme Court of Mauritius (“SCM”) dismissed the Appellant’s appeal but granted conditional permission for his appeal as of right to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (“JCPC”).