A man has failed in his final bid to avoid paying his sister her share of a property they inherited from their father.
Delivering a judgment on Monday, five Law Lords of the United Kingdom-based Privy Council dismissed Nirmal Mahadeo's final appeal against his sister Candice.
Sir Andrew Moylan, who wrote the judgment, stated that Mahadeo had failed to prove that both a High Court Judge and the Court of Appeal were wrong to uphold his sister's claim.
"There has been no error in the proceedings below let alone one which would surmount the high hurdle required to justify departing from the Board's settled practice," he said.
"The trial judge was entitled to find that there was no agreement and the Court of Appeal was right to dismiss the appeal," he added.
The legal dispute between the siblings related to control of a property in Barataria that their father left them and their other sister Geisha, who lives in the United States, when he died in early 2008.
Mahadeo was living at the property at the time of their father's death and continued to do so since then.
He rented the front of the building to the operators of a bar and did not share the rent with his sisters.
In 2009, Candice brought legal action to obtain her share in the property, while Geisha did not pursue any litigation over the issue.
In his defence, Mahadeo claimed that she agreed to sell her share in the property to him for $500,000.
High Court Judge Margaret Mohammed upheld her case as she ruled that there was no agreement between the siblings.
Justice Mohammed ordered Mahadeo to pay Candice $800,000 for her share in the property and one-third of the rent he collected from the bar.
He was also ordered to pay almost $94,000 in legal costs.
Mahadeo challenged the outcome but the Appeal Court agreed with Justice Mohammed.
Noting that the siblings were the only witnesses in the case, Moylan said the judge was entitled to rule that Mahadeo's evidence over the purported agreement lacked consistency, credibility, and plausibility.
"Not only did the appellant fail to persuade the trial judge that there was an agreement as he alleged, she found that there was no agreement," he said.
"This was clearly a finding which was open to her and was soundly based on her assessment of all the evidence," he added.
Pointing out that the parties did not challenge the judge's decision to order Mahadeo to purchase his sister's share, Moylan ordered that the property be sold and the proceeds divided among the three siblings.
Mahadeo was represented by Anthony Manwah, while Zeik Ashraph represented his sister.
