A judge has ruled that former Cayman Islands Football Association executive Canover Watson does not need to pay back his colleague Bruce Blake US$100,000 he borrowed from him to pay for an expensive defence lawyer.
The money had been lent in 2016, when Watson was facing prosecution for helping to scam the Cayman Islands government out of more than $5 million in the CarePay hospital swipe-card fraud.
The court heard that Blake had not sought the return of the debt until 2024, because both men had gone on to face legal woes over allegations of fraud relating to regional football confederation CONCACAF and CIFA. Both men were convicted in 2022, and jailed in 2023.
Watson had sought the loan a decade ago, under an oral agreement, from Blake to pay for a Queen’s Counsel to defend him in the CarePay case.
Blake filed a writ of summons in June last year to seek to recover that loan, after sending a repayment demand letter dated 24 Oct. 2024, to Watson in Northward Prison, where he is currently serving a seven-year sentence. Watson did not respond.
In response to the writ, Watson submitted to the court that the case was statute-barred, or out of time, under the Limitation Act. He stated that the claim for recovery of the money should have been brought within six years of the resolution of the CarePay case, which concluded, following an unsuccessful appeal, in 2017.
In an affidavit provided by Blake to the court, he said Watson had told him that he believed the CarePay investigation into him was politically motivated and he was “confident of vindication”.
“He further explained that, in order to fight such powerful interests, he would require an experienced Queen’s Counsel, but that his bank accounts had been frozen,” Blake said.
Describing the loan as “an oral agreement between friends”, Blake acknowledged that while precise repayment terms had not been put in writing, there was a “clear understanding” that the money would be paid back once the case was resolved.
Blake argued that the limitation time would start running upon a demand letter being issued for the repayment of the loan, and stated, “I only loaned him the funds to assist him with his legal fees, without there being a time frame for repayment.”
Blake, who was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the football fraud case, said he had not pursued repayment of the loan earlier because he and Watson had both faced investigation and prosecution relating to that case until September 2024.
The Limitation Act states: “An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.”
Grand Court Justice Marlene Carter acknowledged that there was an understanding that this was a loan from Blake to Watson, and “not a contribution or a gift”.
The judge cited a 24 Oct. 2024 letter sent by Samson Law, on behalf of Blake, to Watson’s lawyers, which stated that the loan had been made on 13 Nov. 2014 to assist with Watson’s legal fees in the CarePay indictment case, and “it was agreed that repayment would be made upon the conclusion of the case”. The letter noted that the CarePay trial ended in February 2016.
Blake had claimed that it was this letter of demand which constituted the beginning of the limitation period.
Carter, however, dismissed Blake’s claim, finding in favour of Watson’s argument.
She noted that Watson had been convicted in the CarePay case on 5 Feb. 2016, and his appeal against conviction was dismissed on 6 Dec. 2017, meaning that, even if the latter date is used as the case’s date of resolution, it would mean the statue of limitations would have run out in December 2023.
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