Large number of court cases pending for more than 10 years

Malta has one of the lowest number of judges per 100,000 inhabitants in the EU, and the Maltese courts are backed up to the hilt with pending cases.

 

Hard-working judges who clear their caseloads are often 'rewarded' with the backlogged cases of their colleagues, and when judges retire, their pending cases are redistributed amongst their colleagues.

 

According to information tabled in Parliament by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, in reply to a question by Justice Shadow Minister Jason Azzopardi, 10 per cent of cases in the Civil Court First Hall have been pending for over 10 years, and 11 per cent for between seven and 10 years.

 

The situation is worse in Gozo, with 24 per cent of the Civil Court First Hall cases pending for over 10 years, and 11 per cent pending between seven and 10 years.

 

In the Magistrates' Civil Court, six per cent of cases have been pending for more than 10 years and nine per cent have been pending for between seven and 10 years.

 

Justice is once again slower in Gozo, as 20 per cent of cases have been pending for over 10 years and six per cent for seven to 10 years.

 

Judge Michael Mallia said on his retirement that there are many factors leading to delays in judgements, some of which are out of the Judiciary's hands.

 

"When it takes time before a case is heard, this is not the fault of a member of the Judiciary, as it depends on many factors out of the control of that particular judge. The actual judgement is the prerogative of the member of the judiciary and they must be punctual. I understand that this cannot be easy, due to the amount of work, especially if they have inherited a backlog from elsewhere. Fortunately I have never had a backlog," Judge Mallia said during his retirement speech last month.

 

Individuals whose land has been requisitioned by the government are in for one of the longest waits in Malta's justice system before they are awarded compensation. Thirty per cent of such cases being heard by the Land Arbitration Board have been pending for over 10 years. 

 

Just last year, the European Court of Human Rights instructed the Maltese government to pay an entrepreneur €450,000 in damages over a compensation battle that dragged on for 40 years in the Maltese courts, when the State expropriated the man's land back in the 1970s.

 

The man was offered €18,000 in compensation in 1992 but contested the amount.

 

Asked about the problem of pending cases, Chamber of Advocates president Dr George Hyzler said that judges inherit cases from retiring judges. He says that if nothing is done, the problem of the backlog will never be resolved. "You can never expect the thousands of pending cases to be resolved when you replace a judge after he retires. If you decide marginally more cases than are coming in, the substantial backlog will never be tackled. This requires thinking out-of-the-box.

 

"It is also unfair on new judges, as a new judge is faced with thousands of cases that are up for decision without having heard them himself. They have taken on a new responsibility and are faced with an almost insurmountable task. Some practical solutions have been proposed, one of which would see the nomination of a new judge prior to the retirement of the older judge, thereby providing a period of transition to allow the new judge to get used to the work instead of hitting the ground running. This would help, but there are other systems we will be looking at and I would like to discuss these with the Minister".