family over a $2.8 billion empire was delayed yesterday as lawyers became bogged down in last minute battles of their own behind the scenes.

After almost two hours of hearings in Chambers Supreme Court Puisne Judge Denis Mitchell ended by putting off the start of the case -- which was scheduled to begin yesterday -- until further details are worked out.

He has scheduled further in Chambers hearings for next Monday. The case is being heard in Bermuda's newest Supreme Court facility at the refurbished Booth Memorial Hall on Court Street.

The Bermuda Fire & Marine case is scheduled to begin in the upstairs court room today. The building was refurbished after participants in both cases anteed up so that the cases could get underway.

The original three courts available were deemed too small to hold the amount of lawyers, supporting staff and court recorders involved in the cases.

For the Thyssen-Bournemisza case the sum is considered an insignificant amount compared to what has already been spent so far. According to one estimate about $12 million in lawyers' fees has been spent on the case. Some of the top lawyers from London are estimated to be earning $5,000 a day. The case is expected to take a year, and some of the overseas lawyers have set up residence in Bermuda for the duration, bringing their wives and placing their children in local schools.

Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, one of the world's biggest art collectors, is attempting to wrest control of his empire from his son Georg by getting the terms of the Continuity Trust set aside. If he is successful the case could weaken Bermuda's reputation as a solid base for setting up trusts.

According to a source a representative of the Attorney General's Chambers was in court yesterday as an observer.

The saga involves a Bermuda trust which is the holding entity of the sprawling Thyssen Bornemisza conglomerate with interests in ships, glass, plastics, car parts, trading companies, agricultural machinery and information systems.

Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza set up the trust in 1983 through Bermuda law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman entrusting control over the assets to Georg but not ownership. Ironically the trust was set up to ensure no battles would occur over inheritance when the Baron died.

Under the terms of the trust the Baron was to receive 30 percent of the profits, estimated to be about $30 million a year. Apparently the Baron is claiming he's being shortchanged and hence wants to regain control of the assets. He wants the trust declared null and void.

He claims his son and the trustees used undue influence and an abuse of confidence in setting up the trust to his disadvantage. Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza's lead lawyer is Michael Crystal, a colourful London lawyer who has said he needs six weeks just to make the opening presentation.

Some of the disputes going on in the non-public hearings have been about where the various parties will sit in the new courtroom. Mr. Crystal reportedly argued in previous hearings that he needed extra room for his wide gesticulations.

Another week has been set aside for Georg's lead lawyer Alan Boyle to make his opening argument for the defence. London lawyer Nicholas Patten is representing the trustees and other corporate defendants.

Family feud court case delayed Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, 78, is a colourful figure in his own right. A citizen of Switzerland, he is married to former Spanish beauty queen Carmen Cervera 55, his fifth wife.

The Baron also has two sons and one daughter from his previous marriages.

Georg was the only child of the Baron's first marriage to Austrian princess Maria Teresa de Lippe. He divorced her to marry British model Nina Dyer who he in turn divorced one year later. She went on to marry the Aga Khan's brother before overdosing on barbiturates, according to an article in The Times newspaper.

The Baron then married another British model, Fiona Campbell Stewart with whom he had a daughter Francesca, and son Lorne. He next married Brazilian Denise Shorro, and through her had Alexander. That marriage also ended in divorce for settlement estimated at 100 ($164 million).

The Baron is a well known art collector. Soon after he married his current wife he made a coup of sorts in the art world when he leased half the collection -- some 775 works -- to the Spanish government for $5 million a year until a sale price could be arranged. The Spanish government eventually bought the collection for $350 million.

The collection now hangs in a specially adapted palace in central Madrid.

According to The Times the Spanish claim to the collection is now under question in the court battle in Bermuda. The trusts have been set up in such a complicated series of holding entities, that lawyers are unsure exactly what they hold.

In an interview with the UK newspaper Baron Thyssen-Bournemisza insisted that the case in Bermuda has no effect on the future of the pictures hanging in Madrid. The museum has become one of Madrid's principal tourist attractions and the Spanish government has even promised to buy an adjoining palace for his wife Tita's own collection of 600 works.

Other family members told The Times that the Bermuda court case could just be for forerunner for control of all Baron's possessions including the art collection.

"The Bermuda case promises to be long, expensive and, doubtless, nasty,'' The Times concluded. "Whatever the result, it will only deepen the wounds that prevent the Thyssens from getting along like a normal family.'' BUSINESS BUC