Case Caption: Magras vs. People of the VICase Number: SCT-Civ-2024-0020Date: 12/18/2024Author: Willocks, Harold W.L. Citation: 2024 VI 36Summary: In an appeal from a Superior Court order affirming a Magistrate Division order denying an emergency motion for preliminary and permanent injunction for discharge of an arrest warrant and other injunctive relief, 4 V.I.C. § 123 governs the jurisdiction and powers of the Magistrate Division, and the contention that the Superior Court had jurisdiction to review the Magistrate Division’s June 9, 2023 Order is rejected. It was error to conclude that the Magistrate Division’s jurisdiction in this instance extended to denial of a motion seeking to enjoin the execution or issuance of a warrant. Ruling on that motion was outside the scope of the Magistrate Division’s enumerated original jurisdiction under § 123(a) and expressly prohibited by § 123(b) – even if the magistrate judge was designated to handle pretrial matters pending in the criminal proceeding. As a result, the Magistrate Division’s order was void for lack of jurisdiction. Because it admitted to deferring to the magistrate judge’s factual findings, the Superior Court’s order upon review could not have cured the jurisdictional defect in the Magistrate Division order or rendered the defect harmless. The Superior Court thus erred in finding that the magistrate judge had jurisdiction to issue the June 9, 2023 order adjudicating the emergency injunction motion and, in turn, erred in finding that it had jurisdiction to issue the March 22, 2024 order reviewing and affirming the Magistrate Division’s order. Both orders were issued without subject matter jurisdiction, and both are declared void ab initio. It is further ordered that the emergency injunction motion be adjudicated as part of the underlying criminal proceeding.Attachment: Open Document or Opinion