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Tales from the Courts – A Tale of Woes XXVI

Two lawyers declared on public radio today [12/09/2015] that the judicial system is a mess. While it is easy to dismiss the view of Gregory Nicholls, a light weight member of the legal fraternity, his colleague Andrew Pilgrim was quick to concur to give heft to the problem. […] Bear in mind Pilgrim is a…

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Andrew Pilgrim, Attorney-at-Law
Gregory Nicholls

Two lawyers declared on public radio today [12/09/2015] that the judicial system is a mess. While it is easy to dismiss the view of Gregory Nicholls, a light weight member of the legal fraternity, his colleague Andrew Pilgrim was quick to concur to give heft to the problem.

[…]

Bear in mind Pilgrim is a ‘big mout’’ lawyer and former president of the Bar Association (BA).

BU finds the admission by the two lawyers interesting. It has been four years since Marston Gibson was appointed Chief Justice of Barbados and there has been no discernible improvement in the delivery of justice. Many will argue that it has deteriorated.  BU supported his controversial appointment because we had hoped someone from outside the inner circle would have served to breath live into the system. We were wrong!

At the time of Gibson’s appointment there was stout defence by members of the local legal fraternity and some commenters who opined BU was being alarmist. BU’s perspective on the state of the judiciary is well documented in Tales from the Courts and does not require a rehash.

The BA, the Chief Justice, a new government have all FAILED to cure the ills of the judiciary. We can expect to suffer the outcomes.

42 responses to “Tales from the Courts – A Tale of Woes XXVI”

  1. Caswell Franklyn Avatar
    Caswell Franklyn

    There’s an old saying: you can’t start wrong and end right. It is applicable to the state of the courts now. Everyone expected Marston Gibson to revitalise the court system but they started wrong. Firstly, according to our law, he was not qualified for the post and in true DLP style, they changed the law to accommodate him. Even then the amendment was not crafted with sufficient precision and at the end of that exercise, he still was not qualified. But with egg all over their faces, they went ahead and made the appointment anyway.

    The amendment on which the appointment was based required him to have been practicing in a common law jurisdiction for ten years. He was practicing in New York which is not a common law jurisdiction for the purposes of Barbados law.

    In one of the definition sections – (section 46) of the Interpretation Act it states that common law means the common law of England. They started wrong and will remain wrong.

  2. Jim Gibbons Avatar
    Jim Gibbons

    This chief justice is hiding behind his appointment. I personally wrote him by way of registered letter about a situation that I had with the Bar Association and to this day the postman who delivered the letter has not returned the form so that I could be notified that it was delivered. I have no doubt the office of the chief justice has a hand in this. The post office was looking into this issue for 2 years now and still nothing has been resolved. However, I am of the view that the system is in a mess based on the fact that very few if any complaints are being dealt with. This chief justice is a joke but he is a joke that is being paid very well with Barbados money and I am sure that he is enjoying himself in the country. What a shame.

  3. Sunshine Sunny Shine Avatar
    Sunshine Sunny Shine

    How the heck the system could be a mess and everyone accepts it as so? When you got messes you does clean it up. So many years that we heard about the two laws: the poor man law and the rich man law, and have seen how it operates to protect the rich man but drives a hot iron up the crutch of the poor. We also see how it operates with law fraternity brothers like that immoral shite that sits in the speaker’s chair. We also see how operates with crooks like Parris and Thompson and how the sick bitch in the form of a DPP not interested in dealing with big crime. All this shite gine on and we now want to jump on the band wagon that the legal system in a mess. You appoint a shitety man to be Chief Justice that serves a DLP ticket. Not want shite he ain’t produce besides attend a bunch functions and sit down on he royal doing nothing. Yet we say the legal system mess up. The legal system fine because we accept it as so. If you doubt me the cunt AC or Alvin Cumminss.

  4. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Sunny, it’s even worse than everyone thinks, some people have done extensive research and realized where the taproot of the problem in the Supreme Court originated, of course everyone knows that David Simmons former cj was the head culprit corrupting the court system and it did not help when he partnered with that criminal Peter Harris of CGI, they have taken white collar crime to a new level.

    Let’s hope the Justice Department is not impeded ( I doubt for various reasons that it’s possible….impede i mean) in any necessary investigation, outside of the original help they were invited to give regarding the deliberately engineered delays that was designed to destroy and re-invent the system while enriching the culprits.

  5. Sunshine Sunny Shine Avatar
    Sunshine Sunny Shine

    @Well Well

    You do not have to tell me how bad it is; I know for a fact that it was deliberately set up to serve in the manner that it has been doing for years. These bitches got the perfect set up because no matter what they do the system will protect them. David Simmons, under those crooked bitches from the BLP, did some shite to this country that would make your head spin. Now these shites in the chairs trying to out-do them in every form and fashion. That is why Mia Mottley, doan mind I will vote for the crooked bitch to get rid of these DLP stinking bitches, can push that far and no further. Money passes up the ladder of these crooked bitches, who in return must give permissions to these wicked bitches to further the shite in Barbados, like sand in an hourly glass. Look, by the time the smoke settle with this DLP, mark my words, we gine be so deep in shite that it will finally wake Barbadians up. By that time, it will be too late.

  6. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @”BU supported his controversial appointment because we had hoped someone from outside the inner circle would have served to breath live into the system. We were wrong!”

    I told you so.

  7. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    This thing that we Bajans have that someone from over-in-away, or that someone who has lived over-in-away for a long, long time will fix things for us is so, so wrong.

    We have a lot of problems and we who live here have to THINK of solutions to the problems and then we have to WORK to IMPLEMENT the solutions.

    here is no fairy godfather.

    There is no Santa Claus.

    And the appointment of a Chief Justice should have been made from among us.

    Marston may be a scholar and a gentleman [and the Prime MInister’s school mate/friend] but why on earth did we overlook the justices who have served here both long and well?

  8. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    We should have looked at the magistrates, judges and lawyers which we have here and we should have selected one of them as Chief Justice.

    And if perchance we think that they are all a bad lot, even so we should still have chosen the best of the bad lot.

  9. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    The selection reminded me of a man who would not marry his child mother because she had had sex before marriage and she was therefore in his eyes, the eyes of his family and his church she was a wutless woman and unworthy of marriage.

    But the only man she had ever had sex with was him.

  10. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    All of our lawyers, all of our magistrates, all of our judges many of whom have worked hard and have served long and well were in the eyes of our decision makers like that “wutless” woman.

    God enough to mother our children/serve in our justice system, but too “wutless” too useless to be Chief Justice.

  11. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    We have got EXACTLY what we deserve [you too BU]

    Serve you right.

  12. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    We can always do whatever we feel like.

    But we have to take the consequences.

    As they say “karma is a bitch”

  13. David Avatar
    David

    The case load, accordingly to the CJ, is not so bad, we have many cases which are closed but for some reason show open in the system. In other words it is bad but not so bad.

    jAs

  14. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ David
    Our court system is even worse than SSS so vividly illustrates..

    The basic problem is that simpletons have been elevated to positions of authority all over the damn place….from Fumble back….

    Too many damn people who failed to even pass the 11 plus are running things bout here…
    ..down to those like Peter Wickham and David Ellis so….

    Everybody “who went to school” ain’t capable of leadership….
    Simple Simon above is another case in point…. posting a lotta shiite above bout ‘picking the best of the bad lot…’ and bout’…she told you so…’
    steupsss…

    The fact is that there are simply too many brass bowls bout here….
    Shiite then!!! A Trini had to come and lead the last riots….
    ALL our worthwhile leaders were trained and developed OVER and AWAY….
    Any overseas Tom, Dick or Claire who turns up here, is revered and handed the keys to the treasury..
    …especially Trickidadians, Canadians, Irish and now the Jamaican Butch(er)..

    …meanwhile… our locally trained ‘leaders’ have turned out to be worth what Paddy shot at…

    OUR PROBLEM….
    An expensive and flawed education system that produces highly decorated and certificated shiite…..and NO fruit, coupled with a stupid system where PERFORMANCE counts for nothing….while political connections are everything…..

    We exemplify brass bowlery bout here.

  15. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    Bush Tea September 15, 2015 at 5:11 PM “Simple Simon above is another case in point…. posting a lotta shiite above bout ‘picking the best of the bad lot…’ and bout’…she told you so…’

    Ahhh!!! so you were one of those who supported the appointment of this chief justice? Egg on ya face den!!!

    Lol!!!

  16. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    There is no great white hope.

    We have to do it ourselves.

  17. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    Don’t we see how we demoralize people who have worked long, hard, well and efficiently in the system.

    Now they will have come to believe that there is no point working, long, hard, well, and efficiently because whenever the government is ready the government will appoint somebody from over-in-away anyhow.

    So what is the point of long, hard, well, and efficiently?

  18. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Bush Tea September 15, 2015 at 5:11 PM “Shiite then!!! A Trini had to come and lead the last riots….”

    It weren’t no riot.

    It was a rebellion against grave injustices especially in the sugar industry…this I learned from my parents who were there.

  19. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Bushie would support the appointment of Dompey as CJ right now…things are that bad…
    WHO is appointed to a leadership position …is at best an educated guess…
    Some of the most eminently qualified men have NO balls whatsoever.
    Some have no damn sense…
    Some are just plain female rabbits…

    Judgement can only be made on the RESULTS that such appointees produce.
    We waste FAR too much time on head-hunting, interviewing and such shiite… Where our efforts need to be placed is in PERFORMANCE.

    The VERY BEST predictor of good performance is previous success.

    …so Bushie had no problem in supporting someone from outside appointed to such a position…. wuh don’t outsiders run every other shiite in the place..?

    BUT CHECK BACK HERE ON BU and see who was the very first to be calling for his waste-of-time head…. not Bushie!!?? …within months it was clear that the man was a fraud.
    He would not have passed probation period with Bushie…

    ‘We have to do it ourselves’ shiite…
    …what the hell can brass bowls do but sit around being pissed on…?
    Not even those who clearly have some talent seem to have the balls to do anything but call brass tacks every damn day talking shiite…
    steupsss…

  20. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Rebellion…riot ….march…
    …same shiite.

    Wuh in order to have a riot then, we would have to import a whole mob of foreigners bozie..
    No wonder the politicians (and everybody else) feel free to piss all over our asses…

    So because a damn stupid loyal slave work diligently for decades doing what he is told …is justification in promoting him to leadership…?

    steupsss…
    If you don’t know what you are talking about why not just hush nuh…?!!

  21. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ Bushie,

    from slavery to capitalism.

    What is average yearly income of a successful Lawyer in Barbados?

    My educated guess is several times that of a CJ given that some of them live in Shady Lane an Port George hites.

  22. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Hants
    The lifestyles of Bajan lawyers bears no relationship with their ‘yearly income’.
    Actually many of them are scrunting with very unreliable incomes….

    HOWEVER, they mostly have engineered a system which gives them unlimited access to client’s funds from which they are able for give themselves ‘mortgages’, ‘loans’ and ‘advances’ that facilitates lifestyles that are well beyond what their genuine ‘incomes’ could possibly support.

    The day that client funds are called to account across this island (as is normal in sane societies) will see a collapse of biblical proportions ’bout here …..
    LOL … why do you think they circled wagons when the speaker defaulted…?

    Skippa, this place is the centre of brass bowlery hear…?

  23. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Bush Tea September 15, 2015 at 6:54 PM “The VERY BEST predictor of good performance is previous success.”

    I agree with you.

    But what did any of us know about the previous success of the one appointed?

    @Bush Tea September 15, 2015 at 6:54 PM “We waste FAR too much time on head-hunting, interviewing”

    CORRECTLY done head hunting and interviewing are not just a matter of going through motions. Properly conducted head hunting would look at everything from 11+ results, to O’level/CXC/CAPE results, the quality of the undergraduate degree, the quality of the law degree. And this is just the beginning. Properly done the quality of the applicant’s work would be then reviewed. Did he or she receive any promotions? Were any successful appeals made against his/her judgements? If so how many? What rate? How does his/her rate compare with that of his/her colleagues. After all of this paper work is reviewed and checked for accuracy, only then would interviews be done.

    But alas most Bajans especially those of the political class seem not to believe in nor practice MERIT.

  24. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Simple
    You are wrong about Bajans not looking at merit…..ask AC if you doubt Bushie…

    Don’t Party supporters MERIT appointments to all kinda Boards?
    Don’t Party funders MERIT contracts that allow them to recoup their investments?
    Don’t Party lawyers MERIT $750,000 payments for reading contracts…?

    …wuh you think Water Authority got a new building because it makes sense…?

    Look…. some of the VERY BEST leaders in ALL history had no damn degrees …and some had no previous experience in a similar position… and some of the worse were eminently qualified for recruitment..

    Good leadership is mostly about having wisdom …and BIG balls…

  25. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Bush Tea September 15, 2015 at 8:08 PM “Don’t Party supporters MERIT appointments to all kinda Boards?”

    NO

    “Don’t Party funders MERIT contracts that allow them to recoup their investments?”

    NO

    “Don’t Party lawyers MERIT $750,000 payments for reading contracts…?”

    NO

  26. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Bush Tea September 15, 2015 at 8:08 PM

    “Look…. some of the VERY BEST leaders in ALL history had no damn degrees …and some had no previous experience in a similar position… and some of the worse were eminently qualified for recruitment..”

    Understand that unlike most Bajans when I say “qualified” I don’t mean pieces [not even excellent pieces] of academic paper.

    I mean excellent pieces of academic paper + excellent work.

    Ideally we want BOTH.

    If a candidate/leader is the worse then he or she is NOT “eminently qualified for recruitment”

  27. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    Things in Barbados are so desperate and depressing, here is a light one for my fellow BU bloggers to lighten up and have a laugh………

    Red Phone in Hell

    Tom Adams, Ronald Reagan and Forbes Burnham all die and go to hell.

    While there, they spy a red phone and asked what the phone is for. The devil tells them it is for calling back to earth.

    Burnham calls Guyana and talks for five minutes. When he was finished the devil informed him that the cost is one million dollars…….so Burnham writes him a cheque.

    Next Reagan calls America and talks for 30 minutes. When he was finished the devil informed him that the cost is six million dollars…..so Reagan also writes the devil a cheque.

    Finally, Tom Adams gets his turn and he talks for four hours. When Tom was finished the devil informs him that there will be no charge and feel free to call Barbados anytime.

    Burnham goes ballistic and asks the devil why Adams got to call Barbados for free. The devil replied………….”Since Freundel Stuart became Prime Minister of Barbados, the country has been going through hell, so it is a local call”.

    Laugh your hearts out, fellow bloggers……………….the devil is right on this one!

    Now back to the serious discussion at hand!

  28. ac Avatar
    ac

    here goes the lost soul again bitching bellyaching complaining . nothing right ,,however staying grounded,

  29. balance Avatar
    balance

    “Caswell Franklyn September 13, 2015 at 9:46 PM #

    There’s an old saying: you can’t start wrong and end right. It is applicable to the state of the courts now. Everyone expected Marston Gibson to revitalise the court system but they started wrong. Firstly, according to our law, he was not qualified for the post and in true DLP style, they changed the law to accommodate him. Even then the amendment was not crafted with sufficient precision and at the end of that exercise, he still was not qualified. But with egg all over their faces, they went ahead and made the appointment anyway.

    The amendment on which the appointment was based required him to have been practicing in a common law jurisdiction for ten years. He was practicing in New York which is not a common law jurisdiction for the purposes of Barbados law.

    In one of the definition sections – (section 46) of the Interpretation Act it states that common law means the common law of England. They started wrong and will remain ”

    It would be interesting and informative if Mr Cumberbatch could comment on Mr Franklyn’s views which suggest that the Chief Justice was appointed to the post contrary to law.

  30. David Avatar
    David

    How could he have been appointed contrary to the law if the law was changed? The issue is whether it was correct to change the law to ensure there was no challenge to Gibbon’s appointment.

  31. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ David
    Caswell also argues that, even with the change, the appointment does not meet the full requirements of the law.
    But balance needs to understand Caswell….
    Caswell could probably find a ‘law’, or an interpretation of some rule, against drinking water after midnight on sunny days….

    The whole shiite is moot….

    What law what??!!
    How binding is a ‘Law’ that those 16 shiites could just go in Parliament and change tomorrow…. and then change again on Sunday…?

    This is the point Bushie was making to Jeff about HUMAN LAWS. It is a straight case of garbage in…garbage out.
    The ONLY meaningful LAWS are those that are unchanging, unchangeable, unchallengeable, and that are enacted by authorities with the POWER to enforce them.

    Human ‘laws’ are merely educational opportunities for us brass bowls, as societies, to see if perchance we have the CAPABILITIES to demonstrate enough common sense to recognise the folly of our instincts…and to be guided by higher authority.

    …Bushie can see the answer to that question plainly…

  32. balance Avatar
    balance

    ‘David September 16, 2015 at 6:25 AM #

    How could he have been appointed contrary to the law if the law was changed? The issue is whether it was correct to change the law to ensure there was no challenge to Gibbon’s appointment.”

    The comment was directed to Mr Cumberbatch . Are you his echo?

  33. David Avatar
    David

    BU’s response to your comment does not prempt Jeff’s response. Stop being puerile.

  34. balance Avatar
    balance

    Perhaps you need to be more fair and balanced in your responses and you need not be prolix all you had to say was ‘childish’ and it takes one to know one.

  35. David Avatar
    David

    @balance

    You may have the last word.

  36. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Simple Simon September 15, 2015 at 1:48 PM #
    @”BU supported his controversial appointment because we had hoped someone from outside the inner circle would have served to breath live into the system. We were wrong!”

    I told you so.”

    Given the length and depth of the corruption in the Supreme Court, I do believe Justice Gibson will need much more than 10 years to fix the filth. There are lawyers who do not listen to the judges and act like they are the judges, particularly when they are selling out and taking bribes from the likes of Peter Harris of CGI who still believes he owns the supreme court, sold to him by dirty David Simmons while he sat on the bench as CJ.

    CGI/Peter Harris brings lawyers and doctors in from the other islands and they do his dirty work in the supreme court because he owns them.

    That type of corruption cannot be changed overnight, they have created their own ‘supreme court of filth and corruption’.

    Justice Gibson needs outside help if he is to successfully win that particular battle.

    Because Bajans tend to not follow through when it comes to fighting dirty politicians, dirty lawyers and dirty doctors; and I would like to see the hands of the Bajans, on BU, who are helping the chief justice fight this battle by giving him information and the names of the lowlifes who have aided and abetted in destroying the supreme court, he will not have an easy time of it unless he brings in the really big, bad dudes.

  37. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    In addition, you cannot put a Bajan based chief justice to run the supreme court, you would have to choose from a pool of filthy lawyers without knowing which lawyer is filthy.,….so there.

  38. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Well, Well,

    Some of us do follow through against dirty lawyers, dirty lawyers and dirty politicians. I am well aware of the way our legal system has been sewn up. I have heard many stories and recently was forced to fight my own battle. All is not lost. One needs only to persevere.

  39. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    That should be “dirty doctors”.

  40. dompey Avatar
    dompey

    Prodigal Son

    And when the Devil drinking buddy Tom Adams try to call Barbados from the Great Beyond, the Good God intervened and said to Adams :”Collect call charges will be apply because you have been a man of low moral character when you lived in the territorial sphere, boning men wives lift, right and deep in the center.”

  41. Violet C Beckles Avatar
    Violet C Beckles

    https://barbadosunderground.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/our-land-the-review/#comments No comments needed , he block us from his site , Barbados have their own problems with land fraud on the world massive level , good luck with your crooks, Maybe the new government will deal with it the right way.

  42. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Donna…………It hurts to see how these so called professionals, who have reduced themselves to white-collar criminals have in turn reduced the island to nothing with their self-serving activities. It’s sad that clients who have attorneys have to do their own legal work, because the attorneys are too self-serving to be bothered.

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