Read the case excerpt. Identify the issues and discuss the relevant statutory an
ID: 396046 • Letter: R
Question
Read the case excerpt. Identify the issues and discuss the relevant statutory and common law positions.
The Republic of Oiland is a twin-island developing country state with a population of approximately 1.5 million people. Oiland comprises the large island of Oilville and the smaller island of Bella. Bella’s economy is heavily dependent on its well-developed tourist sector. The Tourism Ministry is responsible for regulating all tourism activities and grants licences to all companies that conduct such activities. Bellaville Inc. is the state-owned hotel chain, responsible for a large portion of the country’s GDP. On 17 December 2016, Bellaville’s principal hotel, Belle Isle Resorts, collapsed after the passage of a 5.0 magnitude earthquake. Following the collapse of the hotel, Bellaville provided conflicting and confusing information about what it knew about the collapse. Company officials fed the country a pool of disinformation: firstly of a mystery fire, of unknown saboteurs at work and a vague conspiracy which put the country’s tourism assets at risk. Subsequent investigations conducted by the Tourism Ministry revealed that Bellaville’s Board of Directors received periodic building reports over the years, indicating an urgent need to upgrade the Belle Isle Resorts and the need to have the hotel renovated to comply with country’s building code. The Board of Directors chose to ignore these warnings and only permitted quick fixes instead of ensuring that the hotel was renovated. The Board consistently refused to approve critical renovation work in an effort to keep costs down. Despite vehement denial of such an approach by the Chairman of the Board, internal documents have revealed that the company relied on quick fixes and refused to do critical renovation to ensure that the hotel was built to code so that the hotel would withstand earthquakes and hurricanes. These documents reveal that many of these temporary fixes have become permanent solutions. It would appear that the hotel’s collapse could have been avoided had the Board of Directors permitted the necessary maintenance to take place as recommended.
The Tourism Minister has come to you for advice on what action she can take against the Chairman and the Board of Directors Bellaville. Please advise in relation to the laws of Trinidad and Tobago.
Explanation / Answer
Actions that should be taken against the Chairman and Board of Directors at Bellaville are as below:
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