FROM all indications, the civil action filed by footballer Jermaine Hue against the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and former team doctor Carlton Fraser may not be tenable under existing FIFA statutes and the settlement of grievance provisions in the JFF player contract.
However, there appears to be nothing to prevent the player from pursuing his civil action in the Jamaican courts, which would almost certainly incur banishment from the sport indefinitely by FIFA.
Based on statutes addressing the issue, servants or agents of the game are prohibited from seeking settlement in ordinary courts of law “unless specifically provided for in the FIFA regulations”, which clearly make no such provisions for this manner of recourse.
Hue, the Jamaica midfielder and Harbour View FC star, is seeking financial compensation for purported loss of income incurred during his nine-month FIFA-imposed ban arising out of a failed drug test during Jamaica’s 0-2 loss to Honduras in a World Cup qualifier on June 11, 2013.
The FIFA ban was imposed on the gifted player on September 26, 2013 and expired on May 6 this year.
The team doctor at the time who administered the banned drug, dexamethasone, Carlton Fraser, received a four-year sanction, which will keep him exiled from the game until August 6, 2017.
In the suit filed in the Supreme Court on September 16 by lead attorney Ransford Braham, under the instruction of law firm Patterson Mair and Hamilton, the player is suing for breach of contract, seeking damages for battery and negligence, and special damages in the amount of US$10,000.
Hue, 36, had earlier this year written to the JFF requesting compensation for loss of income from club and country, but the local governing body denied his request on constitutional grounds.
But last Tuesday, Hue, through his attorneys, essentially formalised his claims by filing the civil suit with the aim of gaining financial redress.
According to FIFA rules, no member association can compensate a player or any other agent of football slapped with a ban, or that member could face strong sanctions from the world governing body.
“The issue surrounding the player being compensated by the JFF during the time of his suspension is prohibited under FIFA regulations… it was made quite clear that the JFF should not make any payments to Jermaine Hue for the period of his suspension, hence we could not have done so,” JFF General Secretary Raymond Grant told the Jamaica Observer.
Even with a suit now sitting on the desk of the federation’s chief administrator, the JFF is yet to respond to the claimant, but has notified FIFA of the new development.
“We are going through the claims and the federation will respond in due course,” Grant said.
“The JFF did not suspend player Jermaine Hue. His suspension was imposed by the world governing body FIFA… the player has subsequently served his suspension. Consequently, he has written to us through his attorney for us to make some compensation through loss of income and other funds he perceived he would have garnered during the time… that information we have sent on to FIFA and we are awaiting their response,” Grant added.
In Hue’s letter of February 2014, requesting compensation from the JFF and Dr Fraser, the player was seeking to recover loss of earnings totalling US$12,500 for the period August to December 2013, when he was said to be set to represent El Salvador club CD Auguila.
Also, he demanded J$425,000 as lost earning from non-appearance for Harbour View Football Club from January to May 2014.
Hue also included loss of potential earnings from Jamaica’s last four qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup and that sum was put at J$240,000 and US$200.
The claim also included an undetermined loss of earnings from friendly matches against Trinidad & Tobago on November 15 and 19, 2013.
The Jamaica Observer has learnt that the suit involved most of the above, plus other demands that include a claim of US$10,000, which the player states was a loan from a relative to cover his living expenses while he was unable to earn from the game.
While it appears difficult, impossible even, for a player to take an affiliate of FIFA to an ordinary court to address a matter of this nature, without strong sanctions from the world governing body, the Observer was unable to get clarification on whether that said player or agent of the game could pursue that course if he should relinquish all positions in football.
A check with the director of competition at the Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA), Franz Walker, confirmed that Hue was still a registered player with Harbour View FC, even though he has not figured in their line-up so far this season.
“Yes, Jermaine Hue is a registered player with Harbour View,” Walker said when contacted on Monday.
Efforts to contact Hue for comment yesterday proved futile, as it is believed he was off the island, but counsel Jerome Spencer, of the law firm Patterson Mair and Hamilton, was not prepared to comment on the effects of the civil action re FIFA’s statutes, and Hue’s current or future plans for the sport.
“I can’t comment on that,” Spencer told the Observer when contacted yesterday. “We have filed a suit and the court will determine the outcome.”
Hue, a silky-smooth attacking midfielder, has 42 caps and 12 goals for Jamaica’s senior national team in a career that started in 1999. But the former St Thomas Technical High School standout has never been a constant feature, even as his rare qualities were glaringly missing from numerous Reggae Boyz set-ups.