PHILIPSBURG:--- On August 24, 2018, Mrs B. Cannegieter, Mr C. Koster and the law firm BZSE Attorneys at Law/Tax Lawyers
filed a petition for an injunction against Country Sint Maarten and the operator of the dump. The plaintiffs
request the Court to order Government and the dump operator to ensure that the dump will no longer
spread smoke, gasses and stench within three months after the Court’s ruling. They also request the Court
to order Government to have an official institute, like the ‘Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu’,
to conduct measurements to establish how toxic the fumes are.
The plaintiffs base their claim on the protections they can infer from the provisions that deal with
“neighborhood laws” as anchored in the Civil Code. Furthermore, they argue that Government and the
dump operator can be held liable based on “tort”, or “unlawful act”. Article 5:37 Civil Code stipulates in
summary that the owner of a parcel of land may not cause hindrance in a tortious manner to the owners
of other parcels of lands, such as, but not limited to noise, smoke, gasses, stench, tremors. It is a fact that
the dump does spread stench, smoke and gasses continuously. Since the winds on Sint Maarten are mostly
from an easterly direction, the plaintiffs who work and live west of the dump suffer on a weekly and
sometimes daily, depending on the winds.
It is not known yet when the case will be heard by the Court. Presumably sometime in September.
