Oct. 5, 2001 – Jeffrey Prosser's Virgin Islands Community Bank filed a $50 million lawsuit against Chase Manhattan Bank on Thursday, effectively scuttling his bid to purchase Chase’s assets in the territory.
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court on St. Croix, alleges that Chase acted fraudulently and had misrepresented itself.
Prosser had written to JPMorgan Chase, the bank's parent company, in New York on Aug. 29 informing its officials of his intention to file the suit.
Prosser accused Chase of having "attempted to sell assets that were otherwise unmarketable to avoid the Virgin Islands Plant Closing Act," causing VICB to invest "in excess of $5 million in the aborted transaction and to forgo opportunities to expand its business to the islands of St. Thomas and St. John."
The deal between the two banks "can be considered to be dead at this point," VICB President Michael Dow said Thursday night.
No Chase representatives in the Virgin Islands or in New York could be reached Thursday night. The Source could not confirm whether Chase had filed a suit against Prosser or his bank in New York on Thursday. Dow said he was unaware of such a move but that a suit and countersuit situation wouldn’t be unusual in a "matter of this kind."
The VICB lawsuit alleges that Chase misrepresented itself in the deal when it initially failed to disclose information about a pending $25 million class-action lawsuit. In his August letter to Chase, Prosser said that after entering into a contract with the New York-based company, VICB uncovered information regarding Chase’s operations in the Virgin Islands that were "contrary to representations made by Chase which were material to the transaction …"
Chase, Prosser wrote, caused him to "expend millions of dollars in good faith pursuit of the transaction that could not be closed," including paying $2 million upon signing the contract.
The main problem, according to Dow, was a pending multimillion-dollar, class-action lawsuit against Chase Bank and Chase Agency Services, a bank subsidiary that sells mortgage insurance. Had the deal been completed, VICB would have been liable for any damages awarded in the case.
"It would be downright foolish for us to close on a deal when the seller is being sued in a class-action suit," Dow said. "That really is the crux of the whole thing — that class-action lawsuit."
In a story in early August about the delay in the deal between the two banks, The Source reported that if VICB had to assume Chase Agency Services liabilities, meaning the potential $25 million lawsuit, it could become a basis for Prosser to pull out of the planned deal without being forced to pay Chase a substantial penalty for negotiating in bad faith.
Dow, however, said VICB was "ready and willing to close."
Prosser in his Aug. 29 letter to Chase alleged that the company was illegally selling insurance through Chase Agency Services. That, he said, in turn, negatively affected Chase local branches' current and future earnings, the valuation of loans to be acquired in the deal, and the "value and goodwill" of Chase Agency Services.
Even after VICB learned of the class-action suit, Prosser said, Chase failed to provide requested information.
"The Chase acts demonstrate an ongoing deceptive pattern of conduct that persisted from the negotiations through this day with the intent of drawing the purchaser into a precarious position," Prosser wrote Chase officials in August. "That may have been part of the plan, scheme and design of Chase’s undisclosed motive."
A month ago, VICB received an extension to Dec. 7 from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to complete the purchase of the territory's Chase Bank assets. It was the second such extension granted by the FDIC to acquire the seven V.I. branches of the New York-based Chase Bank. The initial deadline of May 7 had been extended at VICB's request to Sept. 7. Chase and VICB entered into negotiations in 1999.
The VIBC lawsuit, filed by St. Croix attorney Joel Holt, states that the proposed deal had an international aspect, in that the parties had contracted for V.I. Community Bank to purchase from Chase "its bank branches and certain other assets including its insurance business in the Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands."
In his Aug. 29 letter, Prosser wrote that as a pre-contract condition, "Chase required the purchaser to enter into confidentiality agreements that precluded all contact with the government of the British Virgin Islands." Further, he charged that Chase "failed to disclose its own closedown problems with the B.V.I. government, which created for the purchaser an unknown hostile environment in the B.V.I."
Prosser founded V.I. Community Bank on Dec. 30, 1994. The bank operates only on St. Croix, where it has three branches with some $78 million in assets. Chase in the U.S. Virgin Islands has four branches on St. Thomas, two on St. Croix and one on St. John. According to the FDIC, had the Chase acquisition gone through, VICB would have had assets of about $500 million.
Prosser also claimed that Chase failed to disclose that another Chase subsidiary, Chase Trade, was adversely affected by a World Trade Organization decision that effectively outlawed foreign sales corporations in the territory. The WTO action, Prosser said, negative affected the value of the deal.
Molly Morris contributed to this report.

Oct. 5, 2001 – Jeffrey Prosser, owner of the Virgin Islands Community Bank, filed a $50 million lawsuit against Chase Manhattan Bank on Thursday, effectively scuttling his bid to purchase Chase’s assets in the territory.
Before filing the lawsuit on Thursday in St. Croix District Court alleging that Chase acted fraudulently and had misrepresented itself, Prosser wrote JPMorgan Chase in New York on Aug. 29, informing leaders of the parent company that owns Virgin Islands Chase Bank of his intention to sue for $50 million.
Prosser said Chase "attempted to sell assets that were otherwise unmarketable to avoid the Virgin Islands Plant Closing Act causing VICB to invest in excess of $5 million in the aborted transaction, and to forego opportunities to expand its business to the islands of St. Thomas and St. John."
The deal between the two banks "can be considered to be dead at this point," VICB President Michael Dow said late Thursday.
No representatives from Chase in the Virgin Islands or in New York could be reached Thursday night. The Source could not confirm whether Chase had filed a counter suit in New York on Thursday. Dow said he was unaware of such a move, but said it wouldn’t be unusual in a "matter of this kind."
The VICB lawsuit alleges that Chase misrepresented itself in the deal when it initially failed to disclose information about a pending $25 million class-action lawsuit. In his August letter to Chase, Prosser said that after entering into a contract with the New York-based company, VICB uncovered information regarding Chase’s operations in the Virgin Islands that were "contrary to representations made by Chase which were material to the transaction…"
Chase, Prosser wrote, caused him to "expend millions of dollars in good faith pursuit of the transaction that could not be closed," including paying $2 million upon signing the contract.
The main problem, according to Dow, was the multi-million dollar class-action lawsuit against Chase and Chase Agency Services, a Chase subsidiary that sells mortgage insurance. Had the deal been completed, VICB would have been liable for any damages awarded in the case.
"It would be downright foolish for us to close on a deal when the seller is being sued in a class-action suit," Dow said. "That really is the crux of the whole thing; that class-action lawsuit."
In an a story in early August about the delay in the deal between the two banks, The Source reported that if VICB had to assume Chase Agency Service liabilities, meaning the potential $25 million lawsuit, it could become a basis for Prosser to pull out of the planned deal without being
forced to pay Chase a substantial penalty for negotiating in bad faith.
Dow, however, said VICB was "ready and willing to close."
In his Aug. 29 letter to Chase, Prosser alleged that the company was illegally selling insurance through Chase Agency Services. That in turn negatively effected Chase’s local branches current and future earnings; the valuation of loans to be acquired in the deal; and the "value and goodwill" of Chase Agency Services, he said.
Even after VICB learned of the class-action suit, Prosser said Chase failed to provide requested information.
"The Chase Acts demonstrate an ongoing deceptive pattern of conduct that persisted from the negotiations through this day with the intent of drawing the purchaser into a precarious position," Prosser wrote Chase officials in August. "That may have been part of the plan, scheme and design of Chase’s undisclosed motive."
A little less than a month ago, VICB received an extension to Dec. 7 from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to complete the purchase of the territory's Chase Bank assets. It was the second such extension granted by the FDIC to acquire the seven V.I. branches of the New York-based Chase Bank. The initial deadline was May 7.
At VICB's request, that date was extended four months to Sept. 7. Chase and VICB entered into negotiations in 1999.
Prosser founded V.I. Community Bank on Dec. 30, 1994. The bank operates only on St. Croix, where it has three branches with some $78 million in assets. Chase in the Virgin Islands has four branches on St. Thomas, two on St. Croix and one on St. John. According to the FDIC, if the Chase acquisition goes through, VICB will have assets of about $500 million.
Prosser also claimed that Chase failed to disclose that another Chase subsidiary, Chase Trade, was adversely affected by a World Trade Organization decision that effectively outlawed foreign sales corporations in the territory. The WTO action, Prosser said, negative affected the value of the deal.

Oct. 5, 2001 – Jeffrey Prosser's Virgin Islands Community Bank filed a $50 million lawsuit against Chase Manhattan Bank on Thursday, effectively scuttling his bid to purchase Chase’s assets in the territory.
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court on St. Croix, alleges that Chase acted fraudulently and had misrepresented itself.
Prosser had written to JPMorgan Chase, the bank's parent company, in New York on Aug. 29 informing its officials of his intention to file the suit.
Prosser accused Chase of having "attempted to sell assets that were otherwise unmarketable to avoid the Virgin Islands Plant Closing Act," causing VICB to invest "in excess of $5 million in the aborted transaction and to forgo opportunities to expand its business to the islands of St. Thomas and St. John."
The deal between the two banks "can be considered to be dead at this point," VICB President Michael Dow said Thursday night.
No Chase representatives in the Virgin Islands or in New York could be reached Thursday night. The Source could not confirm whether Chase had filed a suit against Prosser or his bank in New York on Thursday. Dow said he was unaware of such a move but that a suit and countersuit situation wouldn’t be unusual in a "matter of this kind."
The VICB lawsuit alleges that Chase misrepresented itself in the deal when it initially failed to disclose information about a pending $25 million class-action lawsuit. In his August letter to Chase, Prosser said that after entering into a contract with the New York-based company, VICB uncovered information regarding Chase’s operations in the Virgin Islands that were "contrary to representations made by Chase which were material to the transaction …"
Chase, Prosser wrote, caused him to "expend millions of dollars in good faith pursuit of the transaction that could not be closed," including paying $2 million upon signing the contract.
The main problem, according to Dow, was a pending multimillion-dollar, class-action lawsuit against Chase Bank and Chase Agency Services, a bank subsidiary that sells mortgage insurance. Had the deal been completed, VICB would have been liable for any damages awarded in the case.
"It would be downright foolish for us to close on a deal when the seller is being sued in a class-action suit," Dow said. "That really is the crux of the whole thing — that class-action lawsuit."
In a story in early August about the delay in the deal between the two banks, The Source reported that if VICB had to assume Chase Agency Services liabilities, meaning the potential $25 million lawsuit, it could become a basis for Prosser to pull out of the planned deal without being forced to pay Chase a substantial penalty for negotiating in bad faith.
Dow, however, said VICB was "ready and willing to close."
Prosser in his Aug. 29 letter to Chase alleged that the company was illegally selling insurance through Chase Agency Services. That, he said, in turn, negatively affected Chase local branches' current and future earnings, the valuation of loans to be acquired in the deal, and the "value and goodwill" of Chase Agency Services.
Even after VICB learned of the class-action suit, Prosser said, Chase failed to provide requested information.
"The Chase acts demonstrate an ongoing deceptive pattern of conduct that persisted from the negotiations through this day with the intent of drawing the purchaser into a precarious position," Prosser wrote Chase officials in August. "That may have been part of the plan, scheme and design of Chase’s undisclosed motive."
A month ago, VICB received an extension to Dec. 7 from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to complete the purchase of the territory's Chase Bank assets. It was the second such extension granted by the FDIC to acquire the seven V.I. branches of the New York-based Chase Bank. The initial deadline of May 7 had been extended at VICB's request to Sept. 7. Chase and VICB entered into negotiations in 1999.
The VIBC lawsuit, filed by St. Croix attorney Joel Holt, states that the proposed deal had an international aspect, in that the parties had contracted for V.I. Community Bank to purchase from Chase "its bank branches and certain other assets including its insurance business in the Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands."
In his Aug. 29 letter, Prosser wrote that as a pre-contract condition, "Chase required the purchaser to enter into confidentiality agreements that precluded all contact with the government of the British Virgin Islands." Further, he charged that Chase "failed to disclose its own closedown problems with the B.V.I. government, which created for the purchaser an unknown hostile environment in the B.V.I."
Prosser founded V.I. Community Bank on Dec. 30, 1994. The bank operates only on St. Croix, where it has three branches with some $78 million in assets. Chase in the U.S. Virgin Islands has four branches on St. Thomas, two on St. Croix and one on St. John. According to the FDIC, had the Chase acquisition gone through, VICB would have had assets of about $500 million.
Prosser also claimed that Chase failed to disclose that another Chase subsidiary, Chase Trade, was adversely affected by a World Trade Organization decision that effectively outlawed foreign sales corporations in the territory. The WTO action, Prosser said, negative affected the value of the deal.
Molly Morris contributed to this report.

Oct. 5, 2001 – In July, Coral World marketing manager and Source contributor Allegra Kean was looking for good homes for two abandoned kittens at the marine attraction — and she found them after the situation was reported in the Source.
Well, one good turn deserves another. (Cynics might say no good deed goes unpunished, but that's not Kean's style.)
Her newest rescue case is a young island dog. Actually, it was her mother, Josie Kean, who found "Skippy," as they've dubbed him, on Denmark Hill a couple of weeks ago.
"He was all skin and bones and readily accepted any human attention," Allegra Kean recalls. "We have been feeding him two or three meals a day ever since, and he has filled out a lot and grown extremely friendly. He has the sleek shape of a Doberman pinscher, and someone must have thought him one, because his tail was cut off. But he is just another good-natured island mutt, I would estimate around a year old."
She quickly learned that the young dog even knows a few old tricks. "When I approached him for the first time, I held out my hand for him to sniff, and he responded by giving me his paw," she says. "He likes to play catch and wants nothing more than a belly rub every now and then."
Prospective adopters can reach Skippy's unintended foster parents by sending an e-mail to source@viaccess.net or by calling 774-9541.

Oct. 4, 2001 – As a whole, the Virgin Islands is not at the forefront of the alternative energy movement, but there are some pockets of people living "off the grid" as the territory, like the rest of the nation, spends October observing Energy Awareness Month.
For St. John resident Ken Damon, the reasons to live by solar and wind power are philosophical. He says that electrical power generation and vehicles contribute most to upper atmosphere pollution, so when he started building on the island in 1979, he and his wife, Sylvia Weaver, decided on alternative energy.
They started out with minimal equipment but over the years have upgraded many times. They now have three houses operating "off the grid," which in alternative energy parlance means running without being hooked up to a public power supply — in this case, the Water and Power Authority.
Damon and Weaver were among the first to see the light, but others are catching on.
"Every time WAPA increases the energy cost, people get interested," St. Croix environmental consultant Ken Haines says.
St. Thomas resident Michael Bumba, who sells alternative energy equipment, sees using the sun and wind for power is an act of patriotism. "In this act of terrorism, the bottom line was oil," he says, referring to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Others agree that troubles in the Middle East and declining oil stocks could cut off the nation's oil supply, which they see as a good reason to install alternative energy. Haines predicts that within the next decade it will become a necessity, rather than a choice, if people expect to keep their lights burning.
Rebate program can cut costs
Haines has taken good advantage of the V.I. Energy Office's rebate program to ready his Christiansted house for that day. This year he was able to buy $16,000 worth of solar panels for only $4,000 after the federally funded rebates.
The story is the same across the territory. People with an interest and enough cash to make the investment are those who reap financial rewards. Yet, while items such as solar hot water heaters and solar panels to power a home call for big bucks, even people on modest budgets can shave dollars off their electric bills by buying compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Once a rare item sold only through mail-order houses, they are becoming as easy to find as regular light bulbs. Even local department stores carry them at prices as low as you'll find anywhere. The V.I. Energy Office offers $10 off each bulb if you buy from their list of approved suppliers — all of whom charge more than that. However, you can find the same items for as little as $6 at local discount stores.
That's still a lot more than the under-$1 price of a regular light bulb. The savings come in their life. While regular light bulbs need frequent replacement, compact fluorescents last for many years.
Estimates vary on how long it will take to recoup what you spent on your solar system, but Haines has calculated that his will pay for itself in 17 years if the cost of WAPA power goes up 3 percent a year.
Dual systems offer options
While alternative energy saves money in the long term, it also provides power when WAPA can't. St. Thomas resident Alfred Neumann has whipped up an inexpensive backup power system for his home consisting of two compact fluorescent lights and a water pump strong enough to flush toilets as well as run the shower and sink. "The water pressure is a little less, but it's still enough to take a shower," he says.
Neumann sells the system for $1,350, but he says the V.I. Energy Office rebate program cuts the cost to around $1,000. His own entire house, like others across the territory, runs on solar power.
St. Croix residents Steffan Larsen and Jan Mitchell live entirely off the grid. He says he spent $35,000 on solar and wind power for their house, but he could have done it for far less. "I have the Rolls Royce of batteries," he says, noting they cost $1,000 each.
Kathy and Roger Damon's house on St. John runs totally on solar power. They first developed an interest thanks to Ken Damon, who is Roger's uncle.
When the couple built their house in the early 1990s, the V.I. government forced them to wire it for both solar and WAPA power. While they now run most of the time on solar, recent mechanical problems have forced them to switch over to WAPA until repairs are made.
They are building a house next door to put into the vacation rental market, and have decided to use only solar hot water, rather than full solar power. Lights and appliances will run off WAPA power because the Damons didn't think vacationers would be energy conscious enough to limit their electrical usage. Kathy Damon says she and her husband are careful to turn off their lights when they're not needed, so as to keep the batteries from draining.
However, both she and Mitchell says they have plenty of power to run conventional kitchen appliances. "I was a doubting Thomas, but I have everything a woman would want in a kitchen," Mitchell says.
Mitchell and Larsen also have a wind generator, which they use to harness about half of the power their home uses. Larsen says he has a winch to lay it down on the ground for hurricanes.
The down side of living off the grid
While wind generators provide cheaper power than solar systems, they are noisy. And even if the noise doesn't bother you, it may annoy your neighbors. "It's better to buy one with a big blade that doesn't turn as fast," because they are quieter, Bumba says.
Alternative energy users agree that it takes a handy person to deal with such systems. While Haines hired a professional to install his system, others were strictly do-it-yourselfers.
Maintenance can also take time and effort. Some batteries are maintenance free, but Kathy Damon notes that the massive bank of batteries that store solar energy for her house requires servicing every six months. This involves cleaning the corrosion off, just as with car batteries. When you have a lot of them and they're big, it's a time-consuming task. "It takes a whole weekend, and it's a dirty job," she says.
Several alternative-energy advocates gave kudos to the Energy Office for its rebate program and its assistance with technical matters. But at least one St. Thomas resident doesn't have much good to say about another branch of the V.I. government that won't allow him to register his GEM electric car.
Architect Doug White has been trying for nearly two years to get the paperwork done at the Police Department's Motor Vehicles Bureau. Bureau officials contend that his solar-powered car doesn't meet road standards, but governments in 38 states allow such vehicles to be registered.
"The government as a whole has no energy-awareness policy," White says.
For a list of suppliers participating in the energy rebate program or for information on alternative energy, call the V.I. Energy Office at 772-2616.

Oct. 4, 2001 – As a whole, the Virgin Islands is not at the forefront of the alternative energy movement, but there are some pockets of people living "off the grid" as the territory, like the rest of the nation, spends October observing Energy Awareness Month.
For St. John resident Ken Damon, the reasons to live by solar and wind power are philosophical. He says that electrical power generation and vehicles contribute most to upper atmosphere pollution, so when he started building on the island in 1979, he and his wife, Sylvia Weaver, decided on alternative energy.
They started out with minimal equipment but over the years have upgraded many times. They now have three houses operating "off the grid," which in alternative energy parlance means running without being hooked up to a public power supply — in this case, the Water and Power Authority.
Damon and Weaver were among the first to see the light, but others are catching on.
"Every time WAPA increases the energy cost, people get interested," St. Croix environmental consultant Ken Haines says.
St. Thomas resident Michael Bumba, who sells alternative energy equipment, sees using the sun and wind for power is an act of patriotism. "In this act of terrorism, the bottom line was oil," he says, referring to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Others agree that troubles in the Middle East and declining oil stocks could cut off the nation's oil supply, which they see as a good reason to install alternative energy. Haines predicts that within the next decade it will become a necessity, rather than a choice, if people expect to keep their lights burning.
Rebate program can cut costs
Haines has taken good advantage of the V.I. Energy Office's rebate program to ready his Christiansted house for that day. This year he was able to buy $16,000 worth of solar panels for only $4,000 after the federally funded rebates.
The story is the same across the territory. People with an interest and enough cash to make the investment are those who reap financial rewards. Yet, while items such as solar hot water heaters and solar panels to power a home call for big bucks, even people on modest budgets can shave dollars off their electric bills by buying compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Once a rare item sold only through mail-order houses, they are becoming as easy to find as regular light bulbs. Even local department stores carry them at prices as low as you'll find anywhere. The V.I. Energy Office offers $10 off each bulb if you buy from their list of approved suppliers — all of whom charge more than that. However, you can find the same items for as little as $6 at local discount stores.
That's still a lot more than the under-$1 price of a regular light bulb. The savings come in their life. While regular light bulbs need frequent replacement, compact fluorescents last for many years.
Estimates vary on how long it will take to recoup what you spent on your solar system, but Haines has calculated that his will pay for itself in 17 years if the cost of WAPA power goes up 3 percent a year.
Dual systems offer options
While alternative energy saves money in the long term, it also provides power when WAPA can't. St. Thomas resident Alfred Neumann has whipped up an inexpensive backup power system for his home consisting of two compact fluorescent lights and a water pump strong enough to flush toilets as well as run the shower and sink. "The water pressure is a little less, but it's still enough to take a shower," he says.
Neumann sells the system for $1,350, but he says the V.I. Energy Office rebate program cuts the cost to around $1,000. His own entire house, like others across the territory, runs on solar power.
St. Croix residents Steffan Larsen and Jan Mitchell live entirely off the grid. He says he spent $35,000 on solar and wind power for their house, but he could have done it for far less. "I have the Rolls Royce of batteries," he says, noting they cost $1,000 each.
Kathy and Roger Damon's house on St. John runs totally on solar power. They first developed an interest thanks to Ken Damon, who is Roger's uncle.
When the couple built their house in the early 1990s, the V.I. government forced them to wire it for both solar and WAPA power. While they now run most of the time on solar, recent mechanical problems have forced them to switch over to WAPA until repairs are made.
They are building a house next door to put into the vacation rental market, and have decided to use only solar hot water, rather than full solar power. Lights and appliances will run off WAPA power because the Damons didn't think vacationers would be energy conscious enough to limit their electrical usage. Kathy Damon says she and her husband are careful to turn off their lights when they're not needed, so as to keep the batteries from draining.
However, both she and Mitchell says they have plenty of power to run conventional kitchen appliances. "I was a doubting Thomas, but I have everything a woman would want in a kitchen," Mitchell says.
Mitchell and Larsen also have a wind generator, which they use to harness about half of the power their home uses. Larsen says he has a winch to lay it down on the ground for hurricanes.
The down side of living off the grid
While wind generators provide cheaper power than solar systems, they are noisy. And even if the noise doesn't bother you, it may annoy your neighbors. "It's better to buy one with a big blade that doesn't turn as fast," because they are quieter, Bumba says.
Alternative energy users agree that it takes a handy person to deal with such systems. While Haines hired a professional to install his system, others were strictly do-it-yourselfers.
Maintenance can also take time and effort. Some batteries are maintenance free, but Kathy Damon notes that the massive bank of batteries that store solar energy for her house requires servicing every six months. This involves cleaning the corrosion off, just as with car batteries. When you have a lot of them and they're big, it's a time-consuming task. "It takes a whole weekend, and it's a dirty job," she says.
Several alternative-energy advocates gave kudos to the Energy Office for its rebate program and its assistance with technical matters. But at least one St. Thomas resident doesn't have much good to say about another branch of the V.I. government that won't allow him to register his GEM electric car.
Architect Doug White has been trying for nearly two years to get the paperwork done at the Police Department's Motor Vehicles Bureau. Bureau officials contend that his solar-powered car doesn't meet road standards, but governments in 38 states allow such vehicles to be registered.
"The government as a whole has no energy-awareness policy," White says.
For a list of suppliers participating in the energy rebate program or for information on alternative energy, call the V.I. Energy Office at 772-2616.

Oct. 4, 2001 – Several owners of St. Thomas residential property filed a federal class-action lawsuit this week claiming that the V.I. Tax Assessor's Office improperly assessed the value of their properties, resulting in higher property tax bills.
Plaintiffs Robert Schmidt, Kim Holdsworth, Dori Derr and the Robert Schmidt Development Corp., represented by attorney James Derr, said they were filing the lawsuit on behalf of all Virgin Islands taxpayers whose properties may also have been improperly assessed. The plaintiffs own a total of 11 properties in Estates Peterborg and Lovenlund, the suit states.
The legal complaint, filed in U.S. District Court on Monday, is the companion piece to similar lawsuits filed previously by commercial property owners, Derr said Thursday. The complaint raises similar issues about the method in which Tax Assessor Roy Martin has placed values on properties, a method which the lawsuits claim does not conform to Virgin Islands law.
The V.I. Code states that properties must be assessed at their actual value, using standards such as location, quality of land, any income derived from the property, recent sale price of adjacent properties and other factors.
But the lawsuits claim that the tax assessor instead has used the estimated cost to replace properties — a standard not mentioned in the V.I. Code — which could lead to higher assessments, and thus higher tax bills. The new suit also says that residential properties have not been re-assessed every two years, as the law requires, but that the Tax Assessor's Office has instead applied across-the-board percentage increases that may not reflect changes in the actual value.
The residential property lawsuit has not yet been served on Martin or other V.I. government officials, as the parties to the lawsuit have been in negotiations about how to resolve the dispute, Derr said.
In a settlement reached in the commercial property suit, an independent assessor was assigned to oversee changes made in the Tax Assessor's Office to ensure that assessments were being done according to both the law and nationally accepted standards.
Under that settlement, all commercial properties are to be re-assessed under the new guidelines, an action that Derr said could lead to lower property-tax bills for all V.I. commercial property owners.
Derr said that V.I. government attorneys told U.S. District Court Judge Thomas K. Moore last month that the new system of assessing commercial property is expected to be in place early next year.
If similar changes were to be made regarding assessment of residential properties, it is not clear whether most property owners would see lower taxes after re-assessment. Many properties may be assessed below actual value, Derr said, but new assessments could increase the assessed value on other homes.

Oct. 4, 2001 – V.I. residents should look for heavy rain and winds up to 35 mph starting late Thursday night or early Friday as Tropical Depression 11 makes its way across the Caribbean islands. The rain and wind should last until sometime Saturday, meteorologists said.
Ed Tirado, a forecaster at the National Weather Service office in San Juan, said at 5 p.m. Thursday that the depression was centered 411 miles southeast of St. Croix. It was located at 13.1 degrees north latitude and 60.7 degrees west longitude and moving west-norhwestward at 18 mph. Maximum sustained winds were at 35 mph with gusts up to 45 mph.
The projected track of the weather system takes the center several hundred miles south of St. Croix.
Tropical Depression 11 formed Thursday afternoon near St. Vincent in the Windward Islands. Tirado said it is not expected to gain enough strength to be renamed Tropical Storm Iris until it reaches the Dominican Republic.
A tropical wave with the potential for development is moving toward the Caribbean right behind Tropical Depression 11, Tirado said, but it is too soon to predict its course or whether it might develop into a stronger system.

Oct. 4, 2001 – More than 175 adults and children have already taken advantage of a V.I. Housing Authority class in computer literacy and job readiness — topics combined in a single course but with two specialists teaching.
VIHA officials hope now that many of those individuals will return for the new round of classes, beginning and advanced, that will start Wednesday at four St. Thomas housing communities.
Two of the sites — the Evelyn Webster Learning Center in Paul M. Pearson Gardens and a newly opened facility in Oswald E. Harris Court — provide access for residents with disabilities. The other sites for the classes are in the Michael J. Kirwan Terrace and Estate Tutu Apartments communities.
The classes are free to residents. Sessions will be held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Registration forms are available through Community Services specialists in each community. Additional information is available from Jacqueline Joseph at 777-8442, ext. 7394.

Oct. 4, 2001 – For the second month in a row, Police Lt. Rene Garcia announced a sizable drop in the number of burglaries reported on St. John. In September, he said, the number fell 67 percent from August.
A month earlier, he had said that the number of reports in August represented a drop of 42 percent from the July figures.
Garcia, the Police Department's St. John zone commander, declined to provide the actual numbers of burglaries reported. And he said he did not have figures from 2000 to compare on a same-month basis.
One person was arrested on burglary charges last month, he said.
The sharp declines for August and September came after a wave of burglaries, mainly of vacation villas, had been reported in the spring and early summer.
While St. John is continually short of police officers, Garcia said, personnel from the Community Oriented Policing Unit on St. Thomas assisted St. John officers in patrols and stakeouts during September.
He declined to say how many officers are assigned to St. John, but he said criminals know when the island is short staffed. "They take advantage of that," he said. But he said the recent statistics show that, although it is short staffed, the Police Department will not allow criminals to take over the islands.
Garcia also said reports of felonies on St. John were down 19 percent in September from the August level. Last month, he reported that the August figures had shown a drop of 41 percent from July. Again, actual numbers of cases reported and comparisons with the same months a year earlier were not available. Felonies include crimes such as assault, rape and murder.