The future of the Hamiltonian Hotel and Island Club Ltd. has been secured after a judge dismissed the order to wind-up the Pembroke resort.

Judge Ian Kawaley brought an end to the long-running court case, which started when the Ministry of Finance filed a petition to shut down the Hamiltonian in June 2009 and was successfully concluded in Supreme Court on Friday after management struck a deal to pay off all its outstanding debts.

The Hamiltonian was claimed to owe the Ministry more than $1.4 million in unpaid taxes, who in turn had appointed the Official Receiver as provisional liquidator of the Pembroke resort, but the matter was finally resolved following a series of adjournments over the past few months.

Robin Mayor, representing the Ministry, appeared before Judge Kawaley seeking an order to dismiss the petition.

Ms Mayor explained to the judge that the case had been adjourned on a number of occasions in a bid to reach an agreement over the proposals put forward by two parties to pay off the debt and taxes due to the Ministry, moving ahead with the one to make the payment in full.

She added that the issue of the costs was settled during the negotiations to pay off the outstanding debts.

Attempts to save the business have been ongoing for about five years, held back by a dispute over the resort's rightful ownership. US national Stephan McGee has claimed ownership, as has the management of the resort, led by Douglas Burgess.

Mr. McGee was granted power of attorney over the estate of former owner Harold Stavisky, who died in December 2004.

The Hamiltonian's financial problems date back several years, with a report by Auditor General Larry Dennis in 2003/04 revealing that the Hamiltonian was $918,667 in arrears on pension contributions and former Bermuda Industrial Union president Derrick Burgess claiming the property had not made any social insurance contributions in 20 years.

In 2006, Mr. Dennis described the Hamiltonian as "an atrocious corporate citizen", when it topped his 'name and shame' list of delinquent taxpayers, while the Debt Enforcement Unit, of the Attorney General's Chambers, sued the Hamiltonian in 2006 over the failure to pay more than $1 million in seven different Government taxes.