Yet another cruise season will come and go before a judge in Washington, D.C. hears the 2010 Winter Olympics lawsuit between a North Carolina cruise ship agent and the RCMP.
Judge Rosemary Collyer has set a nine-day trial for Oct. 15, 2013 between Cruise Connections Charter Management and the Mounties. Cruise Connections was contracted in June 2008 to hire three ships to house 5,000 police officers and military personnel at Ballantyne Pier before and during the 2010 Games. The RCMP agreed to pay $54 million to Cruise Connections, which planned to charter three ships for US$39 million.
Cruise Connections and the RCMP squabbled over which party would be responsible for tax remissions for the foreign workers who were to be employed on the cruise ships. When the Canadian dollars value shot up in the fall of 2008, Cruise Connections feared its anticipated profit had disappeared. Based on the tax and currency issues, Cruise Connections delayed executing the charter agreements. The RCMP cancelled the contract on Nov. 17, 2008 and Cruise Connections sued for breach of contract.
A Government of Canada application to quash the lawsuit because American law prohibits lawsuits against foreign governments was overturned on a technicality in February 2011.
During a Nov. 8 teleconference with the parties, Collyer ordered the plaintiffs to provide the defendants all documents regarding profit/cost analysis that were used in preparation of plaintiffs bid on the first Request for Proposal.
A report from Amex originally pegged the price of accommodations at $25 million to $41 million. When the Cruise Connections contract was sunk, the RCMP eventually directly chartered the Elation from Carnival and MS Statendam and MS Oosterdam from Holland America for $76 million.
Federal Treasury Board supplementary estimates for 2011-2012 included $4 million reserved for Olympics-related lawsuits for vendor contracts and loss of business during the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.
Meanwhile, the $2.5 million lawsuit filed by Marios Gelati against three levels of government and VANOC has melted away. The ice cream company complained that police roadblocks and barriers near the Olympic Village kept customers away during the Olympics. A Nov. 26 B.C. Supreme Court trial was cancelled and the matter settled out of court.
Lawyers for Marios, VANOC, the Government of Canada, Province of B.C. and City of Vancouver signed an Oct. 31 consent order that said the within proceeding be dismissed, without costs to any party. The said dismissal be, for all purposes and effects, as if pronounced by this court after a full trial of this proceeding, on the merits. Financial details were not
disclosed.
City hall spokesperson Wendy Stewart said it was resolved to the satisfaction of the city. A B.C. Finance ministry representative, who provided information anonymously, said the settlement came at no cost to the province. VANOC spokesperson Renee Smith-Valade refused to comment, and the ice cream companys owner, Mario Loscerbo, did not return phone calls.
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