Jamaica Gleaner**– The Supreme Court has struck out a claim by executors of the late hotel mogul Gordon “Butch” Stewart’s estate seeking a “red flag” audit of several companies, ruling they lacked legal standing to bring the case.**

The decision, announced orally on March 26 by Justice Cresencia Brown Beckford and released in writing Wednesday, blocks an attempt by the executors to carry out a red-flag audit of Gorstew Limited, Appliance Traders Limited and their subsidiaries.

In 2024, the executors had sought court authorisation to carry out an urgent audit of the companies, citing serious concerns about how the companies had been run since Stewart’s death on January 4, 2021.

The executors are Trevor Patterson, Cheryl Hamersmith-Stewart, Elizabeth “Betty Joe” Desnoes, and Martin Veira. Hamersmith-Stewart is Butch’s common-law widow.

Adam Stewart, the Sandals hotels boss who took over from his father, applied to the court for the case to be struck out. He rejected their claims and argued that their case was an abuse of the process and should be struck out as executors did not have authority under the Trusts Act to bring the claim.

In a 24-page opinion, the judge ruled that the executors, in seeking to carry out the audit, were acting in their capacity as executors and not as trustees, and that the Trusts Act does not govern executorial functions.

“In view of this finding, the executors in seeking to carry out this red flag audit are acting [as] executors and not trustees of the will of the Founder,” Justice Brown Beckford wrote. “In that event, they do not have standing under the Trusts Act to bring this claim.”

The judge added: “The executors’ duties, though they may overlap with trustee duties and possibly in instances be the same activity, are not, in law, synonymous.”

Justice Brown-Beckford argued further that if she is wrong that “the executors are not as a matter of law constituted trustees of the estate, the duties which they are seeking to carry out by this claim are clearly executorial and not trustee functions.”

“This is confirmed by the Fixed Date Claim Form, which defines the claimants as executors and not trustees, clearly denoting the capacity in which the claim was being brought,” the judge explained.

The judge also argued that executors “do not automatically become trustees of the will despite the will naming them as ‘Executors and Trustees’.”

She said: “It is noted that the executors are referred to as trustees throughout the will. This nomenclature, as shown in the preamble, was for convenience only.”

The court examined Butch Stewart’s will, noting that the relevant clause governing the ATL Group, which includes Gorstew Limited and Appliance Traders Limited, did not place those shares in trust.

The court also addressed the proposal to appoint US-based accounting firm Alvarez and Marsal to conduct the audit, which Adam Stewart’s legal team argued would breach the Public Accountancy Act.

While the judge found that argument “not without merit” in principle, it ultimately failed because the application before the court was for authorisation to conduct the audit, not for the appointment of a specific firm.

The executors, who are to pay Adam Stewart’s legal fees, were given permission to appeal.

The ruling represents a significant victory for Adam Stewart and his siblings, Brian Jardim and Jaime Stewart, in a long-running family dispute over the administration of their father’s estate.

Adam Stewart was represented by Walter Scott KC and Ian Wilkinson KC and attorneys Conrad George, Anna Gracie, André Sheckleford, and Gabrielle Chin.

The executors were led by Michael Hylton KC and Kevin Powell KC, and attorney Timera Mason.

John Graham KC and attorney Peta-Gaye Manderson appeared for Gorstew Limited.

Janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com