S.CT.Civ. No.: 2009-0108

The Court affirms the Superior Court's dismissal of an untimely petition for writ of review for lack of jurisdiction because, pursuant to the Court's prior holdings in Pichardo v. Comm'r and Worldwide Flight Services v. Gov't, the statutory deadlines for filing a petition for writ of review are jurisdictional and may not be equitably modified by courts. The Court further (1) holds that the Superior Court may consider an untimely motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction; (2) rejects the contention that the decision in Worldwide Flight Services cannot apply to cases where the petition for writ of review was filed before that decision was issued; and (3) re-affirms its previous holdings that the general writ of review statute, codified as 5 V.I.C. §§ 1421-23, and Superior Court Rule 15(a) are inapplicable when a statute authorizes a petition for writ of review in a specific case.