Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
AN OUT-OF-COURT settlement was reached yesterday in the $2 billion lawsuit which the Government-owned Financial Institutions Services (FIS) brought against Kingston businessman Donald Panton and his wife Janet.
The settlement was announced when lawyers representing the parties appeared before Mr. Justice Donald McIntosh in the Supreme Court.
The suit stemmed from the collapse of the Blaise financial entities in 1994. The Govern-ment had to pay out more than $600 million dollars to depositors.
FIS sued the Pantons, who were former directors of Blaise financial entities and three of the Pantons' companies. FIS claimed that unsecured loans amounting to $600 million were made by Blaise financial entities to three of the Pantons' companies.
Jeffrey Panton, who was represented by attorney-at-law Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, was also a defendant but the suit against him was discontinued. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Panton.
Mr. Justice McIntosh began hearing the suit in January this year and it was set for continuation on Monday but attorney-at-law Abe Dabdoub, who represented the Pantons and their companies, and Solicitor General Michael Hylton, Q.C., told the judge that they were working on a settlement.
