Slow justice system frustrates claimant

A claimant who has been waiting for more than a year to  have an application for a default judgment signed is expressing frustration with the justice system.

Dr Craig Brown, a minister of religion who resides in the United States of America, says he has even sought the intervention of Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, but to date nothing has been done.

He explained that he attempted to purchase a property in Portmore, St Catherine, and paid a deposit of $1.7 million in July 2020 to the bank account of Divine Dwelling Construction Company, the vendor.

He said he changed his mind two days after making the deposit and asked for a refund.

He said no sale agreement was signed when he requested the refund.

The vendor gave several dates to return the money, but that did not materialise, he said.

Dr Brown then consulted a lawyer and a suit was filed in January last year in the Supreme Court to recover the deposit.

The company was served but no defence was filed. Dr Brown said his lawyer applied for a default judgment against the company on March 8, 2021 but, so far, the  application has not been signed.

“I am very concerned that a matter before the court, where the defendant has not provided any evidence to justify his actions- as a matter of fact, the defendant has never been to court or offered a defence- is still languishing in the court without a decision," Dr Brown said.

“Justice Sykes, no one is more aware than you that justice delayed is justice denied," Dr Brown wrote in a letter dated June 16, 2022 outlining the situation.

"I shudder to think what kind of justice the poor receives, particularly, when they are not represented by a lawyer,” he added.

A court official told The Gleaner that there is a serious backlog of cases in every division at the Supreme Court because of a staff shortage, which needs to be addressed urgently.

The court official pointed out that the members of the court staff  who have to deal with matters to be signed are also the ones who go to court and they have very little time to complete the files.

-Barbara Gayle 

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