JLSC appeals court ruling it forced former chief magistrate's to resign as a judge

THE JUDICIAL and Legal Services Commission (JLSC), led by Chief Justice Ivor Archie, has signalled its intention to challenge the finding of an Appeal Court that ruled it acted illegally when it forced former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar to resign as a High Court judge in April 2017.

Thursday was the deadline for the JLSC to file its notice of appeal. It has done so but will first have to get the court’s permission, or conditional leave, to take its complaint to the Privy Council. A date for the hearing of conditional leave is yet to be set, Newsday was told.

On October 12, Justices of Appeal Allan Mendonca, Nolan Bereaux and Alice Yorke-Soo Hon said Ayers-Caesar was “coerced and forced out of office.”

They declared that Ayers-Caesar continued to hold the office of puisne judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature of Trinidad and Tobago “because her purported letter of resignation was procured by the illegal conduct of the commission.”

They ordered her purported resignation letter to be expunged from the records of the President and that Ayers-Caesar should be compensated for the breach of her rights. The JLSC was given a 21-day stay of the Appeal Court’s orders to give it time to decide if it wanted to appeal.

Ayers-Caesar was appointed a judge on April 12, 2017, but resigned 15 days later amid public uproar over 53 unfinished cases she had been presiding over in the magistrates court.

In their ruling, the judges held that giving Ayers-Caesar the option of withdrawing from the high court bench and returning to the magistracy, but if she refused, the JLSC would consider disciplinary action against her were ultra vires.

The judges also declared that the decision and its communication to Ayers-Caesar amounted to “illegal conduct by the commission because it was intended to threaten, coerce and pressure” her into resigning from office. This, they said, was not permitted by the Constitution.

“The result of such conduct was that Ayers-Caesar was coerced and forced out of office.” They also ruled she was denied the protection of the law.

The Appeal Court also agreed with Ayers-Caesar’s contention that the JLSC acted unlawfully in seeking her resignation as a judge, unlawfully procured her resignation and acted unlawfully in treating her consequent purported resignation as effective.

In her legal challenge, she said the JLSC pressured her to resign in that she was told to sign an already-prepared resignation letter or her appointment would be revoked by the President.

Her resignation, on April 27, 2015, was tendered after she met with the CJ and former president Anthony Carmona.

She said she had no intention to resign.

Ayers-Caesar filed her judicial review claim in July 2018 against the JLSC and the Attorney General, also seeking relief against the president for refusing to set aside her resignation letter and reinstate her as a judge.

Trial judge David Harris dismissed her claim against the President. In 2021, he rejected her case against the JLSC and the Attorney General.

In their ruling, the Appeal Court said Harris erred, misconstrued and misapplied the law. As a result, it reviewed the case and the evidence afresh.

Ayers-Caesar then successfully appealed to the Court of Appeal.

Ayers-Caesar was represented by Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, Ronnie Bissessar, SC, and Vijaya Maharaj. The JLSC was represented by Senior Counsel Russell Martineau, Deborah Peake, and Ian Benjamin, along with Ian Roach and Marcelle Ferdinand.

Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, Ravi Nanga, Ravi Heffes-Doon and Savitri Maharaj represented the Attorney General.