The new judge of the Court of Appeal calls for the settlement of disputes outside the court

TTwo new appeals court judges were sworn in on Friday, one urging litigants to opt for alternative dispute resolution, which could greatly help reduce delays in the justice system.

Justice William Chandler made the appeal as he and fellow High Court judge Jacqueline Cornelius-Thorne were elevated to the Court of Appeal in a ceremony at State House on Friday where they were sworn in before President Dame Sandra Mason, immediate family and friends. .

Justice Chandler later told reporters that he believed the backlog of cases facing the courts could be reduced if litigants pursued settlements instead of going through the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Caribbean Court of Justice.

He said: “These problems (in the courts) are perennial, I would say. What I hope is that practitioners and the public alike will embrace the new rules philosophy in terms of regulation. We have not developed, over the years, that culture of settlement; this is still a very litigious company and that adds to the backlog. Hopefully lawyers will embrace the new culture under the new CPR – civil procedure rules – and encourage settlement between litigants.

“What this will do is it will reduce time (and) save costs for litigants because we have to be aware that legal fees are not going down, they are going up. Court fees are also rising. So I think the public needs to embrace the new culture and so do the lawyers so that you have fewer matters before the courts.”

Achieving a resolution rate of 80 or 85 percent, although disputed, would significantly reduce the number of cases going to court, ensuring that only the minimum necessary cases are litigated, the jurist suggested.

Asked how he felt about his elevation to the Court of Appeal, Justice Chandler said: “I was asked a few years ago to consider acting as a judge and I accepted the request. I must say it was a wonderful experience. The original thought of being a judge was not in my contemplation when I was called to the Bar, to be honest, but after being an acting judge, then being called by the then Chief Justice to serve as a permanent judge, I had – liked the experience.”

Judge Cornelius-Thorne told reporters she was satisfied with her new position and added that an increase in resources allocated to the court system was still needed to effectively handle the current caseload.

“We both had experience at the Court of Appeal before, so we aim to advance the work of the Court of Appeal, together with the Chief Justice and the other judges. It’s the first time there’s been two full panels and hopefully we can really move faster, stronger and better,” she said.

“There are a number of things that would be useful to help judges in general; the judiciary is not as well resourced as it should be in terms of staff, in terms of technology, and I think the new chief justice has already indicated that he intends to do an administrative review to make sure that the needs of the judiciary are fully. met Once that’s done, and it’s an ongoing process, the goal of this Court of Appeals, and indeed of this judiciary, is to get to a zero state so that your disposition rate is actually higher than the issues that appear.” (SB)