Word is that Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell is not entitled to immunity from answering charges in a New York Court on October 3.

Dr. Mitchell along with his wife, Marietta, and imprisoned fraudster, Eric Resteiner are co-defendants in a lawsuit filed against them by Charles Howland, a Boston businessman. Howland has charged that he is a victim of the con-man, Resteiner. He is seeking to recover over EC $250,000 that was robbed from him by Resteiner.

Attorney-at-Law Anselm Clouden told the local media that a Memorandum of Law in opposition to the motion to dismiss by Dr. Mitchell's lawyers have been filed on September 10 in the District Court of New York.

Clouden said it is contended that Mitchell is a landlord in New York, he collects rent on an apartment block of buildings and pays his taxes and is therefore, not entitled to immunity.

"He (Dr. Mitchell) is engaged in commercial activity as a landlord in Brooklyn, New York, he pays his property taxes, we have his mortgages... and therefore, the court is not going to countenance an application for dismissal on his key ground that he is the Head of State (of Grenada)," Clouden said.

The outspoken lawyer who confirmed that he will be witnessing the court proceedings said, "we would be breaking news very shortly when this matter is being heard before the District Court of New York."

Prime Minister Mitchell is asking the New York court to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that it was bogus, and that he was immune from prosecution as a Head of State.

Howland is trying to lay his hands on funds given by Resteiner to Dr. Mitchell in St. Moritz, Switzerland in June 2000. Resteiner is currently serving a seven-year prison term in a Federal Prison on Rhode Island after pleading guilty to multi-million dollar mail and wire fraud against several persons in the United States.