Legal disputes that stemmed from a Commission of Inquiry are set to come before the Court of Appeal this month.

A recently released schedule showed that the Court of Appeal will preside over legal actions launched by Myron Piper and Raymond Davis — who also goes by Khalid Wasi — against the Commission of Inquiry into Historic Land Losses and David Burt, the Premier.

The court will at the same time hear an action launched by the CoI against Mr Piper and Mr Davis.

The commission was established in 2019 to examine historical thefts of property and to “identify any persons, whether individuals or bodies corporate, responsible for such historic losses of citizens’ property”.

Mr Davis and Mr Piper had argued successfully before Assistant Justice Hugh Southey that the commission acted illegally when it denied them the chance to testify at it.

The two claimed that the scope of the commission at first, which was set by Mr Burt, was too broad and that it acted beyond its powers when it redefined what its remit should be.

But Mr Justice Southey rejected a fourth ground for the review — that members of the commission had conflicts of interest because of their links to the legal profession, banks and real-estate brokers.

Mr Justice Southey ruled that the two had failed to provide any evidence to back up the claim.

The Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear several other cases during its June session, including a dispute between the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Postmaster-General against Mailboxes Unlimited.

The courier company launched a judicial review to halt a partnership between the Government and Florida-based Access USA Shipping LLC to create MyBermudaPost, an overseas online shopping and shipping channel

MyBermudaPost was announced in November 2020 as a public-private partnership by Wayne Furbert, then the minister, who said it would allow postal customers on the island to take advantage of free shipping services and have their packages consolidated in the US and forwarded to Bermuda.

Kenny Thomson, the president of Mailboxes, said the deal meant that the Bermuda Post Office was effectively supporting an overseas company in direct competition with Bermudian businesses.

Chief Justice Larry Mussenden found last year that the Government’s decision was unlawful as it had failed to abide by its own procurement code. The Government launched an appeal.

According to the its Notice of Appeal, the Government claimed that Mr Justice Mussenden was wrong to rule that Mailboxes had sufficient interest to bring judicial review proceedings against the Government, and that it filed proceedings within the six-month time limit.

The appeal also claimed that the judge was wrong to rule that the Government “was required to satisfy a duty of candour”, which, it was claimed, “shifted the burden of proof from Mailboxes to the Government”.

• It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding court cases. As we are legally liable for any libellous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers