Business

Judge Blocks NIS from Removing Scaffolding from PHRT Refinery Amid Legal Battle

ST. CROIX — On Friday, Judge Yvette-Ross Edwards granted Port Hamilton Refining & Transportation’s request for a temporary restraining order against National Industrial Services, prohibiting the latter from removing any scaffolding or related equipment from PHRT’s refinery or the adjacent fuel storage facility owned by Ocean Point Terminals. ‌According to Port Hamilton’s lawsuit against NIS, the defendants have been expropriating millions of dollars worth of scaffolding from the terminal and refinery complex in violation of the legally valid agreements between the parties. Their seeming basis for doing so is an allegedly fraudulent document reversing decades of standing practice. The document, dating back to when the refinery was owned by Limetree Bay Refinery, was allegedly signed by an independent consultant masquerading as a member of refinery management. The PHRT lawsuit also notes that the consultant, Paul Falterman, was apparently a close friend of NIS principal Jeff Nations. ...