CJ, in new system to tackle case backlog, reaches out to Bar

The new Chief Justice of Barbados, 27 days on the job and grappling with a mounting backlog of court cases, has implemented a plan for the more efficient management
of outstanding cases, his spokesman has told Barbados TODAY.

The system involves the head of the judiciary reaching out to the Bar and its clients regarding some of the oldest cases, with at least one stretching back 20 years.

Chief Justice Leslie Haynes has introduced a new system to ensure that High Court cases which were left incomplete due to the recent elevation of judges to the Court of Appeal or those who have retired, would be properly reassigned, judicial communications officer Bradley Benskin revealed.

“The whole thing is purely administrative in terms of the fact that we have just had elevations to the Court of Appeal of two High Court judges,” Benskin said in an interview. “It’s just a matter of making sure that we can track all the cases that would have been assigned to those judges that are now either retired or who have been elevated so that we know where all the cases are in the system.”

He said that in this way, those cases can be reassigned so the matters can continue to be adjudicated and there is no “falling through the cracks” because of the movement of judges within the system.

At least two outstanding cases – one dating back 20 years and another 17 years old – have been made available to Barbados TODAY after the clients shared details on the heels of them being contacted by the Barbados Bar Association at the chief justice’s request.

“All the Chief has done is ask the Bar to have their attorneys send the information so that we can correlate and everybody knows where everything is and we can continue to operate as per normal in terms of having the matters dealt with,” the judiciary spokesman said.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb