V.I. Supreme Court Strikes Down Law Granting Trial Priority to Seniors and Terminally Ill

In early August, the V.I. Supreme Court ruled that a 2021 law, which gave senior citizens and terminally ill people priority in getting their civil suits heard, was unconstitutional.‌ The court was hearing an appeal from Limetree Bay Terminals (now doing business as Ocean Point Terminals), which contested an order from the Superior Court granting trial preference for litigation brought by Vincent Liger,  an elderly man who was seeking damages for the contamination of his cistern following the flaring incident of 2021 that sent oil droplets billowing west of St. Croix. On January 30, 2023, Mr. Liger requested preferential treatment from the court under Title 5, Section 31(b) of the Virgin Islands Code, a provision that permits terminally ill seniors to expedite civil lawsuits. After the court granted Mr. Liger's motion, Ocean Point Terminals appealed the ruling, arguing that the language of Act 8468 infringed on the authority of individual judges and the judicial branch as a whole to ...