“Sell It!” Marion Hall Speaks On Court-Ordered Sale Of Mansion To Pay Dog Bite Victim

Minister Marion Hall, formerly Queen Of Dancehall Lady Saw, is insisting that she has no objection to one of her mansions in Jamaica being sold, in order to recover $3 million (approximately $19,100 USD) which the Supreme Court had ordered her to pay to a day’s worker, who was bitten by her dogs in September 2009.

Reports are that the St. Ann property has been listed for sale since 2020 but to date, there have been no buyers, since the Court ordered it sold.

Hall had made headlines in October 2012 when the court ordered her to pay $1.5 million in damages to the then 62-year-old day’s worker, who had to be hospitalized for a month after being mauled by dogs at the deejay’s home in the upscale community of Chancery Hall in upper St Andrew, in 2009.

In a Jamaica Observer article today, Hall, in responding to a Gleaner report that the Court had ordered that her house be sold for “no less than $60 million” to recover $3 million in damages to Dorothy Wilson, said that she had been trying to sell the house in question, for a long time.

She also continued to deny that Wilson had been an employee of hers.  Wilson had said in the court documents that she had worked with Hall for about 15 years, while a sister of the entertainer had said that she was the one who had hired the senior citizen to do housework at the home.

“Firstly, I was in the United States for six months when the incident took place… I did not hire the lady,” she insisted.

“Also, I have been trying to sell that house for some time… for years. It was previously listed by realtors for $75 million. I well want it sold.   You think I’m going to have a problem over a house? I say: ‘Sell it!’,” she told the newspaper.

In an October 2012 report, the Jamaica Observer had noted that Dorothy Wilson was awarded the sum of $1.5 million with interest, by Justice Leighton Pusey during an assessment of damages hearing in the Supreme Court in Kingston.

Wilson’s witness statement which was submitted to the court as part of her lawsuit, had noted that she was attacked on September 29, 2009 after completing a day’s work at the deejay’s Chancery Hall property.

Wilson had said that she was getting ready to leave the premises when the animals, three of which were pitbulls, attacked, ripping off a chunk of flesh from one of her legs and eating it.

She had also said she was left with more than 20 bites, when the approximately 10 dogs were done with her.   Upon being rushed to the University Hospital of the West Indies (UWHI), she was admitted for five weeks.

As a result of the attack, Wilson said, according to the court documents, that she was unable to work as she used to and was still unable to use her right hand efficiently.

The case was not contested by Hall, who had later said that she had not been served any documents to show up for court.

However, the Jamaica Observer had also reported that Hall’s sister, who resided at the Chancery Hall home, had said that she was the one who hired Wilson, whom she knew for four years, to do laundry work, and not Hall, who was overseas at the time.

“I feel so bad about it because it was me who hired her,” she was reported as saying back then.

Hall’s sister had also claimed that the “grille was closed” and that Wilson “knew that she was not supposed to go around the back area”, where the dogs were, according to the report.

In 2013, Hall had petitioned the Court of Appeal in an effort to overturn the default judgement which had been made in favour of Wilson, on the grounds that she had not been served with documents, even as Wilson’s legal team contended that proper service had been made.

There was an assessment of damages in October 2015 and Wilson was awarded a total of $3 million with interest.  Hall was not present at the hearing and was not represented.

In June 2020, the court ordered that the property be sold on the open market, for a sum not less than $60 million in order to settle the judgment.

According to The Gleaner, Hall was also given an option to pay the award in installments.

“The court said she could pay $1 million before July 30, 2020 to the claimant’s attorneys and then agree to a payment plan for the balance of the money.   Failure to comply would result in the property being sold, the court ruled,” the newspaper noted.