B&K Successfully Challenges the Constitutionality of the VI Preference Statute

Beckstedt & Kuczynski LLP has succeeded in striking down the Virgin Islands preference statute that improperly infringed on the powers of the judiciary to control their docket and to establish scheduling orders for trial that properly took into consideration the due process rights of all litigants, not just parties over 70 years of age. The Virgin Islands Supreme Court agreed with our client’s position that the statutory mandate that a trial must occur within 180 days infringed on the authority of the individual judges of the Superior Court to manage their docket as well as that of the Judicial Branch to establish the rules of practice and procedure to govern proceedings in the courts of the Virgin Islands. As such, 5 V.I.C. Section 31(b)(1) was held unconstitutional pursuant to a violation of the doctrine of Separation of Powers.