NASSAU, BAHAMAS —The Grand Bahama Utility Company Limited (GBUC) has been fined $6,000 for contempt of court after a Supreme Court judge ruled that it had unlawfully disconnected water services to the Lucayan Towers South condominium complex, despite an injunction barring any interruption of supply “until further order.”
In a detailed ruling delivered on January 15th, Supreme Court Justice Loren Klein held that GBUC breached a standing court order when it shut off water to the Freeport property for several days in October 2025, affecting dozens of residents. While the court declined to permit committal proceedings against the utility’s directors or officers, it ruled the breach was deliberate in law and warranted a financial sanction.
The dispute arises from long-running litigation between the Lucayan Towers South Condominium Association and entities linked to the Grand Bahama Port Authority, including GBUC, over utility services, unpaid arrears, and regulatory enforcement powers under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement.
Justice Klein found that an injunction granted in July 2024 — and continued in August 2024 — clearly restrained GBUC from disconnecting water and sewerage services pending trial or “further order.” He rejected the utility’s argument that a later judgment in separate proceedings concerning more than $400,000 in unpaid water arrears had superseded the earlier injunction.
“A subsequent order in related proceedings does not, by implication, override an existing injunction,” the judge ruled, emphasizing that court orders remain binding unless expressly discharged, varied, or set aside.
GBUC acknowledged disconnecting the water but argued it acted under the mistaken belief that a six-month injunction granted in the arrears case had expired, restoring its right to discontinue service for non-payment. Justice Klein held that this belief, while not malicious, did not excuse non-compliance.
“Although I am of the opinion that committal proceedings are not the appropriate response in the circumstances of this case, I have given mature consideration as to whether some other action is not required to mark the breach of the court’s order. The court’s order has been breached in circumstances which, as set out above, amount to contempt, and I find defendant’s contempt to be established beyond a reasonable doubt. As noted, the defendant does not deny disconnecting the water supply in circumstances that would be a prima facie breach of the Order, and amount to a contempt on the facts and the law of this case. Its primary defence is that it was operating under the belief (now known to be mistaken) that another order had intervened and released it from its obligations under the Order,” Justice Klein ruled.
Justice Klein imposed a $6,000 fine on GBUC and ordered it to pay the claimants’ costs of the contempt application, to be summarily assessed. The judge also directed that the underlying dispute over the attempted revocation of the condominium’s occupancy certificate be fast-tracked for hearing.
