There are 366 civil cases in court that have been waiting for judgment for more than a year and 60 per cent of these are presided over by one judge.

Figures obtained by The Sunday Times of Malta show that Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef has 219 civil cases that have been put off for judgment for more than a year.

The judge also tops the list with the highest number of civil cases that have been waiting for judgment for more than two years and more than five years.

Of the 216 cases before the civil courts that have been waiting for judgment for more than two years, Mr Justice Micallef is responsible for 161, or 74 per cent of cases, in this category.

The figures are bleaker for the judge when taking into consideration cases that have been awaiting judgment for more than five years.

I have had to absorb numerous cases from former colleagues

From the 50 civil cases in this category, 48 are before Mr Justice Micallef – 96 per cent.

One of these is a libel case flagged earlier this month by this newspaper, which was postponed for judgment by the judge for the 33rd time.

The case was instituted in 1997 by former minister Louis Galea against Etienne St John, then editor of Labour’s One TV. Mr Justice Micallef has been putting off judgment for 11 years, a situation described by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici as “simply unacceptable”.

In contrast, Mr Justice Anthony Ellul has one case that has been awaiting judgment for more than a year; another case for more than two years; and none that have been pending for more than five years.

When contacted, Mr Justice Micallef acknowledged the disparity between the load of his pending judgments and that of other members of the judiciary in the civil courts. “The statistics cannot be denied and I am conscious of the situation because it is cause for stress even for me but I have to clarify that over the 14 years I have been a judge I have had to absorb numerous cases from former colleagues who have retired.”

He pointed out that a number of these cases had been in court for a long time and many came to a conclusion at the same time. “One has to look at the type of cases and not just the numbers,” he noted.

Mr Justice Micallef referred to the National Bank case, in which former shareholders claimed a breach of human rights and demanded compensation after the bank was nationalised in the 1970s, which he had inherited. “I brought this case to a conclusion last year,” he said, adding the court system was also plagued with lack of logistical support for the judiciary.

When it was put to him that all members of the judiciary had a support team, Mr Justice Micallef said there were some who had bigger problems than others.

“Ultimately it is the judge’s responsibility to deliver judgment and I am not shying away from this but last year I had two part-time assistants who stopped working,” he said.

Malta has scored low on the European Commission’s Justice Scoreboard released earlier this month for the year 2013.

The scoreboard took into consideration civil cases and found that Malta lingered on the bottom rungs for the time it took for cases to be decided up to the first instance.

Delays have been on the agenda of the Justice Ministry as it gradually implements reform, first outlined in a lengthy and thorough document drawn up by an independent commission headed by former human rights judge Giovanni Bonello.

Most changes have so far been directed towards the criminal field but sources said the government was exploring the option of employing a number of full-time lawyers, dedicated to assist the judiciary in drafting court judgments.

This, they said, was an interim measure to cut the backlog. These lawyers would not be able to do private work, the sources said.

Cases awaiting sentence

More than a year

First Hall Civil Courts
Judge - Pending sentence
Anthony Ellul - 1
Anna Felice - 48
Joseph R Micallef - 219
Joseph Zammit McKeon - 12
Total - 280

Magistrate’s court
Magistrate - Pending sentence
Giovanni Grixti - 4
Marsanne Farrugia - 27
Gabriella Vella - 55
Total - 86

More than two years

First Hall Civil Courts
Judge - Pending sentence
Anthony Ellul - 1
Anna Felice - 22
Joseph R Micallef1 - 61
Joseph Zammit McKeon - 6
Total - 190

Magistrate’s court
Magistrate - Pending sentence
Giovanni Grixti - 2
Marsanne Farrugia - 3
Gabriella Vella - 21
Total - 26

More than five years

First Hall Civil Courts
Judge - Pending sentence
Anna Felice - 1
Joseph R Micallef - 48
Total - 49

Magistrate’s court
Magistrate - Pending sentence
Marsanne Farrugia - 1
Total - 1