Former Progressive Liberal Party Senator Pleasant Bridgewater has to pay the Election Court legal team of Marco City MP Zhivargo Laing $1 million, The Nassau Guardian can confirm.

?The question is how soon Ms. Bridgewater will make arrangements to pay the $1 million, which has now been ordered by the court,? said Fred Smith, one of the attorneys who represented Laing in the matter.

Bridgewater?s and Laing?s attorneys were yesterday before Deputy Registrar Ernie Wallace, who arrived at the $1 million determination.

This does not include payments she may have to make to her legal team, which was headed by attorney Philip ?Brave? Davis.

Bridgewater had challenged Laing?s 2007 election victory in the Grand Bahama constituency, but lost the case late last year. While his margin of victory was reduced by 20 votes, the MPheld on to the seat by 27 votes.

Senior Justice Anita Allen and Justice Jon Isaacs ordered that Bridgewater pay costs in the matter.

The Guardian understands that Laing?s legal team had put in a bill at $1.9 million, which included $121,000 in disbursements such as travel expenses, accommodations, car rentals and meals for witnesses and attorneys.

Laing will likely still have to deal with his attorneys regarding what he may also owe them, The Guardian has learned.

The attorneys in the matter had unsuccessfully fought to have the case heard in Freeport.

?A major factor in costs for both sides was the fact that we had to conduct the case in Nassau rather than Freeport,? Smith said.

?I do hope that in the future, perhaps legislation can be enacted which will ensure that if an Election Court [case comes up relating to] the northern region as a result of the seats being contested in the northern region, then that trial should occur in the Supreme Court in Freeport, which would of course be more convenient for the witnesses, the candidates and any lawyers who may be licensed to practice in the northern region.?

Smith said 98 percent of the witnesses in this matter had to travel from Grand Bahama either by boat or aircraft.

?The challenge faced by both sides was not only bringing the witnesses to Nassau,? he said. ?Many witnesses simply refused to travel and it would have been very difficult to subpoena many of them because you can sometimes turn cooperative witnesses into uncooperative ones.?

He said if the trial had been held in Freeport, more witnesses may havecome forward to give evidence.

?Conducting the case in Nassau really divorced the people of the Marco City constituency from the constituency in which they live,? Smith said.

After the Election Court loss in December, Bridgewater said she expected a ?big bill?.

?I used to work with Fred Smith, so I know what to expect, but the point is it had to be done,? she said. ?Someone had to do it.?

Bridgewater had claimed in her petition to the court that 100 of the votes counted in Marco City in 2007 were not lawful because some of the people who voted in the constituency were not entitled to do so, either because they were not Bahamian citizens or ordinarily resident in Marco City for the six-month period leading up to the election.

The Marco City case is just one legal challenge she has faced over the last two years.

Bridgewater last year had hit back at former clients who had sued her for more than $650,000, filing a counterclaim demanding that they pay her the nearly $390,000 in legal fees she said was due to her.

Northern Oceanic Research and Technology Holdings Ltd. and Blue Hole Expedition had sued Bridgewater for monies they said she received from them and that was allegedly deposited to her client?s account.

The Guardian understands that Bridgewater has since paid this money back.

In what is likely her biggest legal challenge to date, Bridgewater resigned from the Senate on January 24 after she was arrested by police and charged in connection with the alleged attempted extortion of American actor John Travolta, after his 16-year-old son died in Grand Bahama on January 2.

That case is scheduled to start in September.

That matter represents yet another set of legal fees she will have to pay as she fights charges against her.