Suzanne Sheppard
Newsgathering Editor
A lawsuit filed by former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar against Chief Justice Ivor Archie and the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) in which she claimed she was forced to resign as a High Court judge in 2017 has been dismissed.
In a 146-page ruling yesterday, Justice David C. Harris said Ayers-Caesar was treated justly and fairly by the JLSC, former President Anthony Carmona and Chief Justice Archie in accordance with her entitlements under the Constitution. He also ruled that her decision to resign was voluntary.
Ayers-Caesar, who was represented by Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, claimed in her lawsuit that Carmona refused to intervene after she told him about Archie and the JLSC’s conduct. She said the JLSC unlawfully decided on April 27, 2017, to remove her as a newly appointed judge by procuring her resignation and her return to the magisterial bench to complete several part-heard matters.
Ayers-Caesar was appointed a High Court Judge in April 2017 but two weeks later, after public criticism over the backlog in cases she had left behind in the Magistrates’ Court, she resigned. She contended that Carmona and the JLSC had full knowledge that her resignation was procured under threat of dismissal and that a press release signed by her was obtained similarly.
The relief she sought included reinstatement as a High Court Judge and an award of damages.
However, Justice Harris said Carmona was unaware of the circumstances that Ayers-Caesar alleged had caused her to resign.
“The President was not spoken to by the Chief Justice earlier in the day and prior to the JLSC meeting or at any time of matters concerning what the claimant has pleaded amounted to the unlawful procurement of her resignation,” he said.
“The President is not liable for the acts of the Chief Justice if he (the Chief Justice) did not act for the JLSC. The President did not improperly, unfairly and unlawfully decline to consider the claimant’s said letter request and/or to accede to the claimant’s letter request to him to revoke her resignation and to reinstate her as a High Court Judge.”
Justice Harris also found that the former chief magistrate’s lawsuit was “by no means a frivolous one” because the JLSC’s handling of the entire process leading up to Ayers-Caesar’s resignation was not above all reproach.
“It was clumsy in some respects, albeit in the end retaining the constitutional protections to which the holder of judicial office is entitled,” he said.
“A certain clarity has been brought to the area of law and to the functions and extent of the powers of the various entities referred to above (particularly the Office of the President), that found themselves as parties to this action. This case has advanced the jurisprudence in Trinidad and Tobago in important respects.”
Ayers-Caesar was ordered to pay 50 per cent of the costs in the lawsuit which will be assessed by the Master/Registrar of the High Court.
In a statement following the judgement, Maharaj said there would be an appeal of the decision as far as the Privy Council, if necessary. He said an application would be made to the Court of Appeal for the matter to be expedited “so that the public could have the benefit of the relevant decisions in this matter as a matter of urgency.”
Ayers-Caesar was also represented in the lawsuit by Ronnie Bissessar and Vijaya Maharaj, while Archie and the JLSC were represented by Russell Martineau, SC, Deborah Peake, SC, Ian Benjamin, SC, Ian Roach and Marcelle Ferdinand.
Reginald Armour, SC, Ravi Nanga, Ravi Heffes-Doon, Zelica Haynes-Soo Hon and Diane Katwaroo appeared on behalf of the AG’s Office.