A legal dispute between Progressive Labour Party officials and a leadership candidate is still set to be heard next month after discussions of a possible agreement fell flat.

Mark Pettingill, who is representing the party’s chairwoman and secretary-general, told the Supreme Court that his clients wished to “turn down the temperature” in the case over the setting of new rules to cover the admission of party members and selection of delegates.

He said that he hoped the parties could come to an agreed position, stating that a special delegates conference would be called “whatever happens here”.

Mr Pettingill added: “At the end of the day, constitutionally, they will be able to call a special delegates conference in any event to address issues.”

Delroy Duncan KC said that Curtis Dickinson wanted to have the matters settled “more than anybody”, but there would be no agreement if it meant that already-approved party members would be removed.

After a brief discussion between the two lawyers outside the court, Mr Duncan reaffirmed that no deal had been made.

He told the court: “There is no basis for a settlement, and on that basis there will never be a basis for a settlement if what he is seeking is a retroactive removal of members in some process and removal of them as delegates.”

Mr Dickinson, a former finance minister, is running against Jason Hayward, the economy and labour minister, to succeed David Burt, the Premier, who was expected to stand down after nine years in office at the end of October.

However, the leadership campaign was thrown into turmoil last month after the party’s central committee passed rules saying new members could not be automatically enrolled if they campaigned against the PLP in either of the past two general elections.

Another approved addendum ruled that people could serve as delegates at the PLP annual conference only if they had been members for 12 months.

Mr Dickinson argued that the changes went against the PLP constitution and bylaws and secured an interim injunction, which was put in place by Acting Chief Justice Shade Subair Williams, halting the changes from taking effect.

The PLP subsequently announced that it would delay its annual general conference, which had been set to take place from October 28 to 30.

At the latest hearing, the parties discussed orders that had been made by the court in advance of a trial, scheduled to take place in the Supreme Court on October 1 and 2.

During the hearing, Mr Duncan urged that an allegation of voter fraud and manipulation be removed from an affidavit, arguing the claim was hearsay and irrelevant to the case, which centres on the rule changes and the party’s constitution.

He added: “It’s baseless, it’s groundless, it’s irrelevant to any issue in this case and has no bearing on what is taking place in this election race.”

Meanwhile, Mr Pettingill raised an issue with a court order requiring the respondents to pass on documents written by Mr Dickinson to the party’s central committee.

He argued that the decision not to pass on the documents was made in light of the interim injunction preventing the committee from taking action.

Mrs Justice Subair Williams urged both parties to focus on the legal questions at the heart of the case, stating: “I’m not interested in the politics behind any of this. It’s a contract law case.”

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