High Court to rule ‘next week’ on outstanding election case

A year-old outstanding decision on the government’s request to dismiss a fringe political party candidate’s 2022 election appeal is to be handed down in the Supreme Court next week, a highly placed judicial source has revealed.

The source told Barbados TODAY on Thursday that the judgment in the application to strike out the appeal brought by Phillip Nathaniel Catlyn against a judge’s general election ruling is among a slew of outstanding decisions to be delivered next week.

Catlyn, a candidate for the Sovereignty Party who stood in the January 19, 2022 poll for St Thomas, argues the delay of his urgent appeal violates the Constitution and a six-month time limit for judges to deliver decisions.

He cites an October 11, 2022 application by the State to strike out his appeal, the hearing of which concluded on April 26, 2023 with the court reserving judgment.

“To date, despite the lapse of well over two years, this urgent appeal is still outstanding. Furthermore, it is over one year since the decision on the respondents’ application has been outstanding,” Catlyn declared last week in his court filings made available to Barbados TODAY.

“This urgent appeal,” he contended, “is of national importance, but instead of it being expedited, it has been left to languish in flagrant breach of Articles 11(c) and 18(8) of the Constitution, and also in breach of the six-month timeline in Article 84(3)(c) of the Constitution, as amended.”

Section 18(8) of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, governing the independence and impartiality of the court, affords citizens the right to a “fair hearing within a reasonable time”. Under Section 84, a judge may be removed from office “only for inability to discharge the functions of his office (whether arising from infirmity of body or mind or any other cause) or for misbehaviour in public office.

Last week, Catlyn was given a September 24 date for hearing his appeal.

That date came hours after Barbados TODAY reported that Catlyn had lodged a constitutional motion against the State, protesting the delay in hearing his appeal.

Catlyn claims electors who were in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic were disenfranchised.

The motion, filed in the High Court last Thursday by Catlyn’s lawyer, Lalu Hanuman, seeks vindicatory damages among other remedies. Catlyn is also seeking further relief as deemed fit by the court.

He argues that thousands of eligible voters under quarantine were dispossessed of their rights because the Electoral and Boundaries Commission made no provision for them to vote. The chief justice and attorney general are named as defendants.

Catlyn is seeking a declaration that there has been an unreasonable delay in hearing the urgent appeal he lodged on February 2, 2022 against a ruling by Justice Cecily Chase. She had thrown out an earlier appeal calling for judicial review of the president’s decision to issue election writs before ensuring quarantined people could vote.

The claimant’s motion represents a fresh test for how such conflicts between constitutional rules and proper judicial processes will be resolved. The delays highlighted by his filing also come amid ongoing concerns about case backlogs, lengthy delays and shortages of judicial resources.

Vindicatory damages are a relatively rare remedy awarded to complainants of constitutional rights violations or other legal wrongs. The damages are intended to recognise the inherent value of the violated right, beyond any compensation for specific losses or damages. 

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb