Jury Fees Impede Justice
Justice delayed is justice denied. On 2 October 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down court hearing fees. The TLABC had challenged the fees charged – essentially room rental – which would amount to $3,600 for a 10-day trial. The Supreme Court held that such fees could prevent people from coming to court to resolve disputes. Thus these fees were an impermissible interference with access to justice.
On 2 December 2014 the Trial Lawyers Association of BC (TLABC) filed suit against the BC government to challenge exorbitant fees for jury trials. For the same 10-day trial, if you have a jury the government charges $8,700. It’s on a sliding scale. The longer the trial, the more each day costs. For a 20 day trial (reasonably common in personal injury cases) the government charges $17,700.
If your trial is heard without a jury (“by judge alone” – also called a “Bench trial”), there are no jury fees. And, thanks to the TLABC, no hearing fees. Super, duper. Clearly, we should all pick Bench trials. They are cheap. But maybe cheap isn’t the most important issue.
The Jury Act says that if a civil jury takes longer than three hours to reach a verdict, the judge can order the verdict only takes 6 of the 8 jurors. This is usually not imposed until a couple of days of jury deliberation has occurred (add another $1,800 to the government and $1,280 to the jurors). But it’s a powerful statement that we expect trial decisions should be quick. Typically, a jury reaches its verdict within three days – regardless of how long the trial was.
So how long do judges take? Our firm has conducted an analysis of the delay between a trial finishing and the judge issuing his decision. That delay is called the “reserve”. Let’s say that the trial is 10 days long. In 2006, the average across all trial judges in BC was for the reserve of TWENTY-FOUR times the length of the trial. Ten day trial – eight months to get a decision. Terrible, huh? It gets worse. As of 2011, the average reserve went up to THIRTY-ONE times the trial length. Ten day trial – over ten months reserve. And, it’s getting worse. We haven’t crunched all the numbers, but it looks as if judgments are now taking on average thirty-six times the trial length. Some judges have averages of over ONE HUNDRED times the trial length.
The main reason judges are so slow is that the government refuses to appoint enough to the Bench. Most work exhausting hours, including most weekends, most nights. A 12 or 14 hour day is common. Many add “extra” duties like speaking to schools and so on. It must be like trying to shovel water.
Our little birdies tell us that the new Chief Justice (Christopher Hinkson) is cracking the whip at judges, pressuring them to get their decisions out faster. But it’s not like he can dock their pay, or make them stay late until they are caught up. Nor can he hire more judges to lighten the load.
A better answer is to have more jury trials. Oh, but that costs more than a Bench trial. If you want a timely justice, you have to pay more. A lot more. As is so often the case, there is one law for the rich, and one for the poor. It is the policy of the provincial government to see that this position is maintained.