Casa Grande wins partial appeal over water disconnection

The Court of Appeal has partly upheld Casa Grande hotel’s challenge to the disconnection of its water supply, ruling that a High Court judge erred in law in dismissing its judicial review application, but declining to order unconditional reconnection or award damages on the present record.

In 2018, the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) disconnected the water supply to the Oldbury, St Philip, hotel after finding that pipes had been fitted to supply water to Knitwear Limited’s adjoining premises. Casa Grande’s BWA account was not in arrears.

Casa Grande applied for judicial review on the grounds that the BWA had no power or jurisdiction under the Act or the Regulations to disconnect its supply in the circumstances; that the decision was unlawful and unreasonable; that the BWA had taken irrelevant matters into account; and that it had misinterpreted the law and the regulations.