Refinery Dispute Returns Home as Local Courts Take Charge of Scaffolding Lawsuit

The lawsuit between Port Hamilton Transportation & Refining and National Industrial Services – over quantities of scaffolding that PHRT said was unlawfully removed from the grounds of St. Croix's refinery — is back in the local courts.  The matter was transferred to the Bankruptcy Division of District Court of the Virgin Islands in September, and subsequently transferred again to the bankruptcy court in the Southern District of Texas – the court which originally handled the auction of the former Limetree Bay Refinery's property and the subsequent transfer of assets to PHRT.  However on Monday, that court found that it lacked jurisdiction to oversee the dispute, and remanded the matter back to the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands.  The dispute between the two companies ultimately comes down to what PHRT says is a suspiciously flawed sales agreement that upended years of tradition where the scaffolding used at the refinery is “sold” to contractors at a peppercorn rate, and returne...