Court Dismisses Feinstein’s Stake Bank Constitutional Claim

In late 2024, Michael Feinstein took the Government of Belize to the High Court over the compulsory acquisition of twenty-three acres of Stake Bank Island. Tonight, Justice Rajiv Goonetilleke ruled that the government’s planned acquisition doesn’t violate Belize’s constitution. Feinstein’s legal team, led by Godfrey Smith, argued that the acquisition lacked a legitimate public purpose and was meant to resolve a private title dispute in favor of Honduran Company OPSA. However, Justice Goonetilleke found that the acquisition was indeed for a public purpose. The government had published its first acquisition notice in the Gazette on August twenty-seventh and was set to publish a second to finalize the process, but the court temporarily halted it pending the case’s outcome. Today, the High Court dismissed Feinstein’s claim, ruling that his legal team failed to prove their case and awarding costs to the Government of Belize. So, what does this mean for the project moving forward? We’ll have to see if Mediterranean Shipping Company is still interested in acquiring the island, especially after Prime Minister Briceño announced major development plans for the Port of Belize Limited over the next five years. Regardless, this ruling is a significant setback for Belizean investor Michael Feinstein.