DEVELOPERS Harcourt have apologised to Chief Minister Frank Walker, WEB and the States and said that they never had any intention to mislead anyone over civil court action against them in the US.

A lawsuit against the Irish-based company was filed in Nevada for alleged breach of contract over an $800m luxury development on 30 April. This was initially denied in the States during their debate last week resulting in politicians approving the financial deal for the £330 million Esplanade development.

Harcourt director Pat Power (pictured) said that they only found out about the lawsuit against them on 22 May but failed to inform States Members.

Mr Power said that he contacted Senator Frank Walker and WEB two days earlier to say there was no action served on them in Nevada. ‘To be absolutely clear, the action may well have been filed in a Nevada court before that date, but until it is actually served on us, we would not have been aware of it,’ he said.

However, they say they were then informed by their Nevada attorney, on 22 May, that a lawsuit had been served.

Mr Power said: ‘We didn’t see the need to update the information we had given previously to WEB and the Chief Minister for the following reasons.

‘It will have no impact whatsoever on the Jersey proposals, and so at that time, we just didn’t see it as at all relevant.

‘We are robustly defending the action which we argue is entirely without merit.’

Last Thursday Senator Walker was forced to apologise for misleading the House after originally denying the existence of the lawsuit involving the Sullivan Square development.

Mr Power explained: ‘I was asked by WEB for the latest position, and I heard that the Chief Minister had mistakenly informed the States that the action hadn’t been filed. As soon as possible, I checked the current status of the case with our US attorney. I then relayed that information to the Chief Minister, but by then, the debate had concluded.

‘We acted in good faith at all times, and have already apologised personally to the Chief Minister if he has been caused any embarrassment. We also regret any embarrassment caused to WEB or to the States as a whole. There was never any intention to mislead; the Nevada action was simply not viewed as having any impact at all on our work in Jersey, and our position on that point remains entirely unchanged.’

Harcourt are currently working on more than 100 projects in 11 countries around the world.
Mr Power said that lawsuits are not uncommon in the development industry.

He said: ‘Firstly, the Nevada civil action is against a Harcourt subsidiary, and does not involve anything like the figure which has been quoted in the media as variously $800m and $800bn. $800m was the value of the proposed development, not the legal action, which will involve a massively smaller amount, if anything at all. Crucially, this action is being defended by our US lawyers in the strongest possible terms, and we believe it is entirely without merit.

‘We are providing full financial guarantees to ensure that the Island is protected, and we have co-operated fully with all due diligence checks made to date, and will continue to do so.’

In the statement released yesterday he added: ‘We believe our work in Jersey to date clearly illustrates our very strong commitment to the Island. We have already delivered several successful projects, such as Liberation Station, which is well used by Islanders, the Apart Hotel operated by Bridge Street, and Liberation House let by Moore Management, CPA and Ernst & Young. Liberty Wharf is proceeding successfully with Deerglen.

‘We are delighted to be involved in the construction of a world-class financial services centre for Jersey, and will continue to work hard with both WEB and Planning to ensure that we deliver a waterfront of which Islanders can truly be proud.’