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Appeal Court President Publicly Berates Former Bar President Courtenay
posted (March 27, 2015)
Today was the final day of the March 2015 sessions of the Court of Appeal, and an unprecedented event - as far as we are aware - unfolded this morning. The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Manuel Sosa, actually scolded former President of the Bar Association, Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay, and the legal practitioners who are members of the bar. He also demanded that a public apology be issued. That happened in a packed court room full of Courtenay's peers, and it became so serious that the words, contempt of court, was brought up, though no action was actually taken.

Justice of Appeal Sosa's contention is a statement which Courtenay made as President of the Bar on January 12 at this year's ceremonial opening of the Supreme Court. In his presentation to gathering and the press, Courtenay criticized the performance of the Court of Appeal October - November 2014 session. For context we re-air that portion of Courtenay's speech; here's what he had to say:

FILE: January 13, 2015
Eamon Courtenay, President of The Bar
"The bar association wishes to put on record its serious concern about the state of affairs in the court of appeal. The last session in the court of appeals was historic in its underperformance. For the first time in history there was not a single criminal appeal heard. That is unacceptable. On the civil side, there were a record low number of civil appeals heard. The association took a decision that we should publish to the public the state of affairs and also decided that it intends to take drastic and dramatic action to have this matter resolved."

Well, Justice Manuel Sosa found his remarks highly offensive, but he kept the matter private for 10 weeks. He chose today, the final day of this session, when the court was filled with attorneys. They were awaiting the court's delivery of pending judgments for appeal cases which have already been heard.

On the final day of every sitting of the Appeal Court, the normal procedure is that President Manuel Sosa and the other judges would present themselves before the court, with all the cases that they have managed to produce written decisions for would be handed down. This morning, however, Justice Sosa completely caught the attorneys and court observers off guard when he announced that he was going to deliver a few remarks.

He immediately discussed Courtenay's remarks, which he referred to with words like "hostile", "scathing", and "highly reckless". He spoke to the court saying that Courtenay's comments painted an unfair picture of the work that the Appeal Court judges did in the October-November 2014 sitting.

He then went into an intensive report to explain how each of the criminal appeals were handled in that session. According to Justice Sosa, the judges had done all the research and perusal required for each of the cases, and so, when they were called up, the Court of Appeal was ready to hear them all. He then explained that for different reasons, each of the appellants informed the court that they had no attorneys to represent them, and so they requested that the court traverse the case. Sosa added that the court granted each adjournment after consideration, but informed them that the judges are minded to hear the cases at the next sitting even if the appellants did not have attorneys at that time around.

Justice Sosa said that each of the appellants went away contented with the decision of the court. At this point, he made a harsh put down of his own saying, quote, "We shall not allow ourselves to be bullied into becoming a kangaroo court which unfairly denies applications for traversal... The picture presented to the public was incomplete and unfair.... We are entitled to an apology from all who were responsibility for painting that picture to the public. I will not hold my breath for such an apology." End quote.

He then discussed the civil cases which were scheduled for that session and how the court handled those. He then indicated to the court that he has done research into the history of the Court of Appeal, and he has found other sessions in which a similar performance was delivered, which is comparable the October-November 2014 session of the court. He reasoned, then, that this session is not a record low number. Closing off his speech, Justice Sosa urged the authorities responsible, meaning the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions - who was in court today - to review whether the comments constitute contempt of court.

That's serious enough, but Courtenay did not make those remarks as just an attorney. He was speaking as the President of the Bar Association, in a very public and formal setting, so Justice Sosa takes those remarks as being the position of the entire Bar Association. Attorneys we've spoken to tell us that this will undoubtedly discussed by the new executive of the Bar, possibly the Bar Association membership itself, and Courtenay and his advisors.

So, how serious is the contempt of court issue? Well, we spoke with DPP Cheryl Lynn Vidal, and she told us this evening, that she witnessed the comments that Courtenay made first-hand at Ceremonial Opening of the Supreme Court. She added that while she found them unfortunate and unjustified in the circumstances, she didn't think them contemptuous. She indicated that given the unprecedented remarks by the President this morning, a closer look will be taken of the issue.

That's where it is at this evening, and so, we'll keep following this story as it develops.

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