JAMAICA – Coffee farmers and Dyoll reach an agreement

KINGSTON – Lawyers representing the Coffee Farmers informed yesterday the Appeal Court that that a settlement out of court had been reached in the dispute with the defunct Dyoll Insurance Company concerning payment of US$3.2 million due to farmers for damage they suffered during Hurricane Ivan in September 2004.
At the same time, lawyers for Dyoll used the opportunity to inform the court that the appeal will be formally dropped today.
The agreement for an out of court settlement was reached last week-end after two weeks of intense negotiations involving the trustees of the coffee insurance scheme, Dyoll’s liquidators and officials of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS).
The talks were initiated after coffee farmers expressed fear that if the court case continued for an extended period their insurance claim would have been wiped out by legal fees.
The farmers suffered a setback last June after winning the first round of their court battle with Dyoll’s liquidators.
After the Supreme Court ruled that they should be paid for losses suffered during the hurricane, the legal team representing Dyoll’s liquidators applied for leave to appeal the decision.