SINT MAARTEN (GREAT BAY) - Member of Parliament (MP) Egbert Doran has won the court case brought against him personally by Alegria Real Estate N.V. over a decision taken during his tenure as Minister of VROMI concerning approximately 13,525 square meters of water rights. The Court dismissed the claims against both Doran and the Country of Sint Maarten.
Alegria sought to hold Doran personally liable for refusing the request. The Court, however, found no basis to conclude that Doran acted unlawfully in making that decision.
Importantly, the Court recognized that a Minister must be able to make policy decisions, weigh different interests and, where necessary, take a different position from a previous Minister. In Doran’s case, the Court specifically noted that he weighed the public interest against Alegria’s commercial interest.
The ruling is also significant for the Country. Alegria argued that government was already bound by an agreement to grant the requested water rights. The Court found that Alegria had not proven that such a binding agreement existed.
The judgment therefore rejected both the attempt to force the Country to grant the requested water rights and the attempt to hold Doran personally responsible for the decision he made as Minister.
For Doran, the ruling brings clarity to a matter that followed him from his tenure as Minister and reinforces an important principle: Ministers must be able to make difficult policy decisions while weighing the public interest against private commercial interests.
In the end, all claims against Doran and the Country of Sint Maarten were dismissed, bringing the case to a favorable conclusion for both.
Doran, in reacting to the ruling, stated, “I made the decision based on what I believed was in the best interest of Sint Maarten and its people. As a Minister, you will not always make decisions that everyone agrees with, but you must have the courage to make them. I am pleased with the Court’s decision and grateful that this matter has now been settled.”
