KINGSTON, Jamaica— Member of Parliament for St Andrew Western, Anthony Hylton, has hit back at the MP for St Catherine South West, Everald Warmington, who recently described Hylton as a “quashie lawyer” who has never won a case in court. 

READ: Warmington calls Hylton ‘quashie lawyer’; deputy speaker says it’s inappropriate

Warmington made the description of Hylton as a quashie lawyer in the House of Representatives recently, as Hylton rose in defence of his Opposition colleague, the MP for St Mary Central, Dr Maurice Guy, while Guy made his contribution to the State of the Constituency (SOC) Debate.

Warmington then refused to withdraw the comment, telling Deputy Speaker Juliet Holness that he would do so only if Hylton could tell him of a single case he had won in court. 

“I was challenged by a member of this honourable House to identify one case I have won to prove to him that I was not a “quashie lawyer,” said Hylton as he closed his presentation during his recent contribution to the SOC debate. 

“Firstly, Madam Speaker, the member does not even understand that the use of a perfectly good African term ‘quashie’ in a pejorative manner is an insult to our ancestors and echoes the debasing of them by our former oppressors.

“Secondly, his statement betrays a comprehensive lack of understanding of the practice of law in Jamaica and elsewhere. The fact, madam speaker, is that the vast majority of lawyers do not go to court and my own background, training and experience in the specialty areas of aviation, international trade and shipping law has been put to the service of the Jamaican people for close to 30 years,” said Hylton.  

He pointed to the national awards he has received for his work in international affairs and negotiations on behalf of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group negotiating with the European Union to achieve the Cotonou Agreement. This agreement he noted provided trade and financial benefits to the over eighty developing countries for 20 years and is “compelling evidence that I have been winning for the Jamaican people at the public bar”. 

“As for my role at the private bar, I will only mention the landmark case of Shanique Myrie v. The Government of Barbados before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in which the firm HyltonBrown, of which I was the founder and managing partner, filed suit on behalf of Miss Myrie against the Barbadian Government for breach of her right to hassle-free movement within CARICOM, under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas,” Hylton outlined further. 

He said that although he was a cabinet minister by the time the case went to court and therefore could not take part in the actual trial, significant work in initiating that case was already done. 

“The ruling in the Shanique Myrie matter is a victory for the Jamaican and Caribbean people in their efforts to integrate the Caribbean Region,” Hylton told the House. 

On Friday, October 4, 2013, the CCJ awarded Myrie, Bds$75,000 in damages to be paid by the Barbados government. The CCJ found that Myrie had been wrongfully denied entry into Barbados, subjected to a humiliating cavity search and unlawfully detained overnight in a cell and expelled from Barbados. 

“I have responded in this manner not because I believe the member will understand or will ever apologise  – as it is not in his DNA – for what the acting Speaker has already ruled as abusive and inappropriate comments, but because I feel duty-bound to respond on the record to what was intended to injure me in my reputation as a partner in my private legal practice,” Hylton remarked. 

He described Warmington’s comments as “An act, which if done outside of the precinct of this honourable House, he would have paid dearly for”. 

“Nor do I think he is likely to mend his ways as a serial abuser of the House privileges as he is simply incorrigible and will continue to hide behind the protection given him by the Standing Orders, even as he continues to abuse those very privileges”.