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A High Court judge will decide in August whether the court has jurisdiction to hear a dispute between a contractor and the Cepep Company.

Justice Margaret Mohammed on July 18 set deadlines for both sides to file submissions as Cepep argues the case should first go through the contract’s dispute resolution process, not the court.

Cepep’s legal team says Eastman Enterprise Ltd breached Clause 17 of the contract, which requires disputes to be handled through a tiered resolution process before court action. Attorneys, led by Anand Ramlogan, SC, argued the court cannot “reward a party” for ignoring agreed procedures and accused the claimant of trying to bypass mandatory arbitration.