A long-running family feud over the management of the late Jamaican hospitality magnate Gordon “Butch” Stewart’s business empire has hit a major turning point, after the Supreme Court of Jamaica threw out a legal bid by estate executors to launch a special “red flag” audit of two core holding companies tied to the tycoon. The court’s top finding centered on a critical question of legal authority: the executors did not have the standing to bring the claim under Jamaica’s Trusts Act, the statute they relied on to file their suit.
Justice Cresencia Brown Beckford first delivered her ruling orally during a March 26 court hearing, and published the full 24-page written judgment this past Wednesday. The decision blocks the executors’ push to audit Gorstew Limited, Appliance Traders Limited, and all of their affiliated subsidiary businesses.
Butch Stewart, the founder of the iconic Sandals Resorts international hotel chain, passed away on January 4, 2021. Three years after his death, in 2024, the four executors named in his will submitted an urgent court application for approval to launch the targeted audit. The group raised sharp red flags about corporate governance and operational management of the companies in the years following Stewart’s death. The four executors are Trevor Patterson, Cheryl Hamersmith-Stewart – Stewart’s common-law widow – Elizabeth “Betty Joe” Desnoes, and Martin Veira.
Adam Stewart, Butch Stewart’s son and the current head of Sandals Resorts who stepped into his father’s role leading the business empire, launched a counter-application to have the executors’ claim struck out entirely. Adam Stewart’s legal team rejected all allegations of mismanagement, and argued the suit amounted to an abuse of court process. Their core legal contention was that the executors held no authority under the Trusts Act to bring their claim, a position the Supreme Court ultimately endorsed.
In her written judgment, Justice Brown Beckford drew a clear legal distinction between the roles of executor and trustee, noting that while the two positions may sometimes involve overlapping tasks, they are not legally interchangeable. The judge emphasized that the executors brought this claim in their formal capacity as executors of Stewart’s will, not as trustees of the estate. Since the Trusts Act only governs actions taken by trustees, it does not grant legal standing for executors to bring this type of audit request.
“In view of this finding, the executors in seeking to carry out this red flag audit are acting [as] executors and not trustees of the will of the Founder,” Justice Brown Beckford wrote. “In that event, they do not have standing under the Trusts Act to bring this claim.”
The judge further clarified that even if the court accepted that the executors could be legally classified as trustees, the specific action they sought – the audit – fell squarely under core executorial duties rather than trustee functions. She pointed to the claimants’ own court filing, which explicitly identifies the applicants as executors, not trustees, confirming the capacity in which the suit was brought.
Addressing a common wording convention in wills, the judge also noted that labeling named fiduciaries as both “Executors and Trustees” throughout the document does not automatically turn executors into trustees for all legal purposes. In Stewart’s will, this shared nomenclature was only for administrative convenience, not a legal reclassification of their roles, the court found. A close review of the will’s relevant clauses confirmed that the shares for the ATL Group – which encompasses the two targeted companies, Gorstew Limited and Appliance Traders Limited – were never placed in a formal trust structure.
The court also considered a secondary argument from Adam Stewart’s legal team, which objected to the executors’ plan to hire the U.S.-based accounting firm Alvarez and Marsal to lead the audit. Stewart’s team argued that hiring a foreign firm without proper local accreditation would violate Jamaica’s Public Accountancy Act. Justice Brown Beckford noted this argument was “not without merit” on its face, but ultimately did not need to rule on the point, since the application before the court only requested general authorization to conduct an audit, not formal approval of the specific firm.
As part of the ruling, the court ordered the losing side – the four executors – to cover all of Adam Stewart’s legal costs associated with the case. The judge granted the executors permission to file an appeal of the decision with a higher court if they choose to move forward with a challenge.
The ruling marks a clear, substantial legal victory for Adam Stewart and his siblings Brian Jardim and Jaime Stewart, who have been locked in a protracted internal dispute over the administration of Butch Stewart’s multi-million dollar estate. The case featured a roster of top Jamaican legal talent: Walter Scott KC, Ian Wilkinson KC, Conrad George, Anna Gracie, André Sheckleford, and Gabrielle Chin represented Adam Stewart, while Michael Hylton KC, Kevin Powell KC, and Timera Mason led the legal team for the executors. John Graham KC and Peta-Gaye Manderson appeared on behalf of Gorstew Limited.