Civil lawsuit took 33 years to conclude

The government was yesterday ordered to pay €2,000 (Lm858.36) in compensation for a human rights violation when it resulted that a civil lawsuit took 33 years to conclude.

Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco delivered the judgment in a constitutional application lodged by Francis Said against the Attorney General. The Registrar of Courts was later called into the suit.

The court heard that in July 1973 Mr Said filed a lawsuit in the Commercial Court against Joseph Gatt. Mr Said had requested the court to find Mr Gatt liable towards him in damages for the damage done to an antique gold chain. The case was decided by the First Hall of the Civil Court in October 2003.

Mr Said then took the case to the Court of Appeal, which delivered its judgment in December 2006.

Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco said it was clear that this case, which presented no particular legal difficulty, had taken over 33 years to be decided, 30 years of which pending before the Commercial Court or the First Hall of the Civil Court.

In January 1994, the gold chain was stolen from the court safe and the Registrar of Courts was called into the suit.

Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco said there had been an exaggerated delay in the proceedings before the courts of first instance, though not before the Court of Appeal. It also resulted that there had been difficulties with the appointment of technical and legal experts in this case.

Mr Said, the court ruled, had contributed to the delay as he had not attended all sittings and had changed his lawyers. But the state was also substantially to blame for the delay which resulted in a breach of Mr Said's fundamental human right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time.