Senator Adlah Donastorg, Jr. Benedicta Donastorg, Adlah Donastorg, Sr. Josefina Donastorg, Ella Moron and Norma Duran v. Daily News Publishing Co. Inc., Lowe Davis, Holland "Dyke" Redfield, VITELCO, and Oakland Benta

CourtSuperior Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedJanuary 7, 2021
DocketST-02-CV-117
StatusUnpublished

This text of Senator Adlah Donastorg, Jr. Benedicta Donastorg, Adlah Donastorg, Sr. Josefina Donastorg, Ella Moron and Norma Duran v. Daily News Publishing Co. Inc., Lowe Davis, Holland "Dyke" Redfield, VITELCO, and Oakland Benta (Senator Adlah Donastorg, Jr. Benedicta Donastorg, Adlah Donastorg, Sr. Josefina Donastorg, Ella Moron and Norma Duran v. Daily News Publishing Co. Inc., Lowe Davis, Holland "Dyke" Redfield, VITELCO, and Oakland Benta) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of The Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Senator Adlah Donastorg, Jr. Benedicta Donastorg, Adlah Donastorg, Sr. Josefina Donastorg, Ella Moron and Norma Duran v. Daily News Publishing Co. Inc., Lowe Davis, Holland "Dyke" Redfield, VITELCO, and Oakland Benta, (visuper 2021).

Opinion

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS DIVISION OF ST THOMAS AND ST JOHN ******'k******

SENATOR ADLAH DONASTORG Jr ) Case No ST 2002 CV 00117 BENEDICTA DONASTORG ADLAH ) DONASTORG Sr JOSEFINA ) DONASTORG ELLA MORON and ) ACTION FOR DAMAGES NORMA DURAN ) ) Plaintiffs ) JURY TRIAL DEMANDED v ) ) DAILY NEWS PUBLISHING CO INC ) LOWE DAVIS HOLLAND DYKE ) REDFIELD VITELCO and OAKLAND ) BENTA ) ) Defendants )

Cite as 2021 VI Super 109U

MEMORANDUM OPINION

111 THIS MATTER is before the Court on the following 1 Motion to Enter Final Judgment for Defendants Daily News Publishing Company, Inc and J Lowe Davis, filed February 7, 2018; and

2 Plaintiffs Opposition To Defendants Motion To Enter Final Judgment For Daily News Publishing Company Inc And J Lowe Davis filed May 22 2018 {[2 Because there are no outstanding claims against The Daily News Publishing Co Inc and J Lowe Davis, and the remaining claims involve different parties the Court will grant the Motion

I BRIEF BACKGROUND

113 Plaintiffs Senator Adlah Donastorg Jr , Benedicta Donastorg, Adlah Donastorg, Sr , Josefina Donastorg, Ella Moron, and Norma Duran' (hereinafier referred to as Donastorg”)

' The initial action was filed on March 1 2002 by Senator Donastorg and his wife Benedicta against Daily News Innovative Communication Corporation (“ICC”), and [CC 5 owner Jeffrey Presser (“Presser ) ICC and Prosser were severed as defendants in this action ICC entered bankruptcy and no longer owns either Daily News Publishing Co , Inc or VITELCO VITELCO and Holland Dyke Redfield were added later added as Defendants Senator Donastorg s father, Adlah Donastorg Sr , Senator Donastorg 3 mother, Josefina Donastorg and Senator Donastorg s sisters Ella Moron and Norma Duran, were also later added as Plaintiffs Donastorg et al v Daily News Publishing Co Inc et a! Cite as 2021 VI Super 109U Case No ST 2002 CV 00117 Memorandum Opinion Page 2 of 7

asserted five causes of action against Daily News Publishing Co, Inc and J Lowe Davis2 (collectively Daily News”) (l) defamation, (2) interference with business relationships; (3) intentional infliction of emotional distress; (4) negligent infliction of emotional distress and (5) invasion of privacy 3 On July 30, 2014, Daily News moved for summary judgment 4 By Order dated August 19, 2015, summary judgment was granted in favor of Daily News and Holland “Dyke” Redfield on all putative claims asserted against them in Donastorg’s Fourth Amended Complaint 5 114 This matter still proceeds as to the remaining defendants VITELCO and Oakland Benta ( Benta ) As a result, Daily News now moves to ‘ enter final judgment for [Daily News] and against [Donastorg] pursuant to Rule 54(b) of the Virgin Islands Rules of Civil Procedure

[1 LEGAL STANDARD

15 Rule 54(b) provides

When an action presents more than one claim for relief whether as a claim, counterclaim, crossclaim, or third party claim or when multiple parties are involved, the court may direct entry of a final judgment as to one or more, but fewer than all, claims or parties only if the court expressly detennines that there is no just reason for delay Otherwise, any order or other decision, however designated that adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties does not end the action as to any of the claims or parties and may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims and all the parties‘ rights and liabilities 6

III DISCUSSION

116 Daily News argues that because the Court 5 summary judgment decision found that “there is no genuine issue of material fact to support the claim that they acted in a tortious manner, either singly or in concert with the remaining Defendants,” the summary judgment decision should be adduced to a final judgment, which will allows Daily News to secure a judgment for attorney 5 fees and costs

3 Although named as separate defendants Plaintiffs do not allege that Davis engaged in any tortious activity distinct from the tortious activity allegedly perpetrated by Daily News Publishing Co Inc Because Plaintiffs have not asserted an independent basis for liability against Davis this Memorandum Opinion analyzes Plaintiffs claims against Daily News Publishing Co Inc and Davis together This approach minors Plaintiffs treatment of their own claims See generally Pls Am Resp to Defs Stmt of Facts 9—46 (discussing the allegedly actionable conduct of all Defendants without differentiating between Daily News Publishing Co Inc and Davis) 3 Pls Fourth Am Comp! “ On January 12 2015 Redfield joined Daily News summary judgment motion 5 See generally Donastorg v Daily News Pub! g Co Inc 63 V I 196 (V I 2015) ‘ VI R CIV P 54(b) Donastorg e! a! v Dally News Publishing Co Inc 2! a! Cite as 2021 VI Super 109U Case No ST 2002 CV 00117 Memorandum Opinion Page 3 of 7

117 Rule 54(b)7 “attempts to strike a balance between the undesirability of piecemeal appeals and the need for making review available at a time that best serves the needs of the parties ”8 In rendering a final judgment decision, the U S Supreme Court has cautioned that this rule is not to be used routinely, and specifically, the court must exercise its discretion ‘in the interests of sound judicial administration’ ”9

1I8 When entering a decision under Rule 54(b), the court must make two findings First, the court must make “an express determination that there was no just reason for delay, as literally required by the text of Rule 54(b) '0 Second, the Court must make a clear indication that it was considering all the questions relevant to a Rule 54(b) determination ’ “ In addition, the Court must consider several non exclusive factors in certifying a judgment as final under Rule 54(b)

(l) the relationship between the adjudicated and unadjudicated claims; (2) the possibility that the need for review might or might not be mooted by future developments in the [trial] court, (3) the possibility that the reviewing court might be obliged to consider the same issue a second time (4) the presence or absence of a claim or counterclaim which could result in set off against the judgment sought to be made final (5) miscellaneous factors such as delay, economic and solvency considerations, shortening the time of trial, frivolity of competing claims, expense, and the like '2

119 The Court finds the circumstances of this case support entering the Court 5 summary judgment as final pursuant to Rule 54(b) There is no just reason for delaying the entry ofjudgment with respect to the adjudicated claims against Daily News In entering summary judgment, the Court stated that

Although Plaintiffs purport to state multiple causes of action against Defendants, the Plaintiffs theories of liability distill into two categories Under the first category, Donastorg alleges that a specific defendant took a specific action, which in turn harmed a specific plaintiff As an example Plaintiffs allege that Daily News published certain articles and editorials, thereby defaming Senator Donastorg Under the second category Plaintiffs allege that all Defendants in this case were acting in concert, that any Defendant s allegedly tortious conduct may be imputed to any or all of the other Defendants Only once a defendant’s

7 The cases cited in this Opinion analyze the FED R CIv P 54(b) which is identical to the V I R Clv P 54(b) “Devcon Intern Corp v Rellance Ins Co Civ N0 2009 136 2007 WL 4800356 at *2 (DVI Dec 21 2007) 9 Id (quoting Cumss Wright Corp v General Elec Co 446 U S 1 100980)) '0 Hagleyv Hendricks S Ct Civ No 2007 26 2007 WL 5060412 at *3 (Vi Dec 28 2007)(unpublished) 11 Id

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Related

Frederick v. Armstrong
47 V.I. 473 (Virgin Islands, 2005)

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Senator Adlah Donastorg, Jr. Benedicta Donastorg, Adlah Donastorg, Sr. Josefina Donastorg, Ella Moron and Norma Duran v. Daily News Publishing Co. Inc., Lowe Davis, Holland "Dyke" Redfield, VITELCO, and Oakland Benta, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/senator-adlah-donastorg-jr-benedicta-donastorg-adlah-donastorg-sr-visuper-2021.