Privy Council

The UK Privy Council has thwarted plans by private entrepreneurs, led by former Premier Sir John Swan, to take Bermuda down-market by opening US fast-food franchises on the island.The court of appeal rejected an appeal by Swan's company, Grape Bay Ltd., to strike down Bermuda's Prohibited Restaurants Act, which was enacted in 1996 in a bid to stop Swan from opening a McDonald's restaurant.

The complicated legal battle over whether General Electric-subsidiary Electric Mutual Liability Insurance Company Limited should be liquidated in Massachusetts or Bermuda is scheduled to be heard by the Privy Council in London - the highest court in Bermuda's judicial system - next month.In an added twist to a drama whose circumstances change on a regular basis, Kemper Re brought, on February 20, its second lawsuit at Bermuda Supreme Court challenging the decision to allow EMLICO to redomicile to Bermuda.

Bermuda Telephone Company yesterday won a major court victory in its battle to gain control of the highly profitable Bermuda Cablevision from a foreign entity. The Privy Council in London effectively refused to strike out a lawsuit brought on behalf of BTC at Bermuda Supreme Court against Bermuda Cablevision and the US-based McDonald group.

Bankrupt businessman Mark Hardy, the former head of the insolvent Focus Insurance group, is returning to Bermuda - to personally apologize to the Supreme Court for ignoring its orders.The apology will be offered in compliance with a ruling by Britain's Privy Council, the highest court of appeal for litigants in UK protected territories, that Mr Hardy first "purge" his standing with the Bermuda court before the Privy Council hears his appeal.