Director found responsible in damages to tenant of demolished home

A director and a company were held jointly responsible and ordered to pay over €235,000 in damages to a woman who had to seek alternative accommodation when her St Julian’s home was demolished and replaced with an apartment block. 

The case dated back to March 2007 when Dorothy Lentini first filed a civil lawsuit against AS and B Limited claiming that the company, or third parties engaged thereby, had “arbitrarily” demolished the property on George Borg Olivier Street, which was her home. 

The property had originally been leased to her mother who had passed away mere months before. 

The applicant sued both the company and its director, Anthony Sammut, claiming that they had breached the warranty of peaceful possession in her regard and also caused her damages. 

She requested the First Hall, Civil Court to order the defendants to restore the tenement to its former state and layout, return her possession and order them to pay damages. 

The defendants rebutted those claims, arguing that the property had collapsed in totally fortuitous circumstances. 

Besides, the applicant held no title, factual or legal, over the property and could not have been molested in her possession.

The...