Garth Rattray | My daze in court

I have a sister and a niece who are lawyers. I also have many friends and patients who are lawyers. I am not disparaging lawyers in general, but some of them are getting away with playing games, disrespecting the judicial system, using the system to frustrate their opponents, and causing a backlog when trying to win their cases.

I was therefore encouraged when I read The Gleaner article, ‘Law firm hit with time-wasting penalty’, published on Thursday, January 6, 2022. In it, a High Court judge warned that “… lawyers, whose failure to adequately prepare for their matters, resulting in adjournments, could find themselves appearing before the General Legal Counsel (GLC), or before the court”. This was after fining a legal firm $25,000 for wasting the court’s time.

I am well aware of the vicissitudes, tribulations and onerous nature of trying to seek justice. Several years ago, an auto tech undertook to repair my Subaru. He fiddled around, dilly-dallied and messed up until, after two years, he abandoned the job and tried to give me back the car with the engine totally disassembled, various parts damaged, missing and deteriorating due to improper storage. I offered him a way out of his muddle by asking that he (only) give me a used engine block and provide the pistons to match. He refused.

He decided to enlist the help of his lawyer friend to bully me into submission, claiming that he only owed for a few missing and obviously damaged parts. In fact, many more parts were missing and damaged but, after a year of trying to reason with them, I was forced to litigate. I decided to represent myself and underwent a total of five and a half hours in the bowels of the Sutton Street Municipal Court, trying to get the paperwork done to initiate the suit.

REQUESTED MEDIATION

On the mentioned date, his lawyer shocked me by claiming that they were totally unaware that I was suing him, and requested mediation. Although I had irrefutable proof that they knew about the impending suit, that was not the time to complain to the judge that he was lying. I agreed to the mediation. On exiting the courtroom, his lawyer intercepted me and warned me that I was going to find the matter very stressful. Little did he know that this only strengthened my resolve.

On the agreed-on date, I cancelled my workday to attend the mediation appointment, but the defendant failed to show. At the next court date, the judge was very miffed at his non-attendance at the mediation that they requested. When asked why he did not attend the mediation, the defendant said that his lawyer told him to let it go to trial. That wasted my entire day and put us on course for a trial without prior mediation. Although the GLC did not agree with me, I thought that his lawyer’s behaviour was unethical.

A new lawyer represented the defendant at the breach of contract trial. I was disappointed to find myself being asked totally irrelevant questions about how fast I had ever driven, how much taxes I pay, if I pay taxes on income outside of my office; and I was asked to quote (from memory) the number on the tax form used for such returns. Ridiculous questions for a breach of contract and soiled interior, fire-damaged electrical system, damaged stereo system, warped tyres, and many missing and deteriorating parts, all caused by the defendant. Obviously, her questions were meant to rattle and frustrate me. Naturally, that didn’t work.

NOT SHOWING UP

The trial lasted two years. I had to attend court 19 times. The reason for this was that the defendant’s lawyer had a nasty habit of not showing up for court on the previously agreed-on date that was set (in court) by the judge, after she checked with each of us individually regarding our availability. On several occasions, I found myself sitting in the courtroom with the judge, the defendant, the clerk of court, the clerk’s assistant, the police officer and the security officer – waiting in vain on his lawyer.

His lawyer only sent messages (on the day of the trial, while we waited on her) on three of the several occasions that she was absent. Excuses for her unexpected absences were – attendance in the Supreme Court, an extended vacation abroad, and an alleged painful ankle. Once, she sent a subordinate attorney who was totally ignorant of the case; that was a complete waste of time for the court and for me.

Between the difficulty getting the case started, irrelevant and time-wasting questions, and the multiple unexpected absences of his lawyer, many court days were wasted and I lost many workdays. These are some of the reasons why our judicial system is choked up, and why issues take years for resolution. Lawyers who wilfully or carelessly miss dates and/or ask irrelevant, time-wasting questions should be sanctioned and/or fined.

I won my case, but I noted that getting justice is stressful, burdensome and time-consuming. Some lawyers use the faulty system to frustrate, intimidate, and punish plaintiffs/accusers/victims. These things cause many citizens to shirk the courts and, consequently, mete out their own brand of ‘justice’. The Government is trying to improve the system, but it must invest far more time and effort if it is serious about reducing crime and violence.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.