THE LEGAL SYSTEM, IN DANGER OF SHUTTING DOWN: 2,000,000 cases waiting to be tried

• The Romanian justice system is overwhelmed

• The number of cases awaiting trial nearly doubled over 2009

• Costs exceed one billion lei

• Judges and auxiliary personnel threaten the resumption of protests

The Romanian judicial system is at risk of grinding to a halt due to overworked judges, lack of funding, and inadequate work conditions, according to statements made for BURSA by officials in the sector.

Judges are considering resuming protests, claiming the "dehumanizing" work conditions, the negative effects of the new law on pensions, the politicization of Justice, the chronic issues of the legal system and the reduction of compensation for the employees of the system as a result of the unified wage law.

This year, the 4,000 judges which make up the legal system have over 2,000,000 cases to try, according to data provided by the Romanian National Union of Judges (UNJR), which cites court records.

This number doubled over last year"s similar period, and the number of departures from the system has increased severely.

Expenses are also huge, nearing 1 billion lei (around EUR 250 million), according to some evaluations. The trying of a single case costs 532 lei.

Considering the numbers above, each judge needs to issue a fair ruling on no less than 500 cases, with that number climbing to as much as 800 or 1000 per judge in some courts.

The professional associations of the judicial system workers warn that the amount of work is too big, but also because there is a shortage of almost 1,000 employees, and the number of new workers joining the system is low.

"In many courts the number of hearings per case has been reduced to just three per year", said Dana Gîrbovan, the chairman of the Romanian National Union of Judges,.

• Haste makes waste: wrong rulings due to lack of time

Due to the aforementioned factors, the large number of citizens going to court run the risk of seeing their trials drag on indefinitely, or to see their lawsuits tried in a rush, due to lack of time.

This is guaranteed to lead to erroneous rulings, several attorneys said.

The judges said they understand citizens" concern, but blame the leaders of the judicial system who refused to change the law on shortening the proceedings.

"Cases currently on trial will take a long time before they get settled, but this is not the fault of the judges, like everyone is saying, but rather of the decision makers who have until now failed to amend the procedural legislation for shortening the delays between hearings", said Mona Pivniceru, the president of the Association of Romanian Magistrates (AMR).

Last but not least, the magistrates expect "continued outside attacks, in the form of mass-media pressure lobbying for politicians which are involved in criminal lawsuits", and say there will be attempts to replace people and control the Higher Magistracy Council (CSM), by restricting its political independence.

Of course, there are voices which claim that magistrates are in the wrong and that they are to blame for the most part for the current state of things, due to their previous strikes and of the way they have dragged their feet for years on the millions of cases on the docket.

Even if the above were true, nevertheless, the system still has serious issues, such as the insufficient funding, the insufficient number of courtrooms and of personnel, the legislation which prevents judges from issuing unfair rulings or the politicians" attempts to override the system are not the judges" fault.

If judges and clerks decide to go on strike again, many of the cases on the docket could go unsolved this year, a legitimate question arises: is it still true that crime doesn"t pay, when there"s no one left to try delinquents?

• Magistrates ponder new protests

Magistrates do not rule out going on strike again, like they did last year, when the court system was paralyzed for a long time. The chairman of the Romanian National Union of Judges, Dana Gîrbovan, said: "Judges are fully aware of the negative consequences of an eventual protest, so they are reluctant to resort to this course of action. But the risk of a new strike exists, if the measures which are needed to improve the state of the judicial system and to guarantee the statute of judges will continue to be put off". Mona Pivniceru, the head of AMR, said that it was possible that magistrates would go on strike again, due to the sharp cut of their wages following the adoption of the Law of Unified Wages, and the "dehumanization" of judges, by means of the new Law on pensions, which reduced pensions for most public sector workers, including employees in the judicial system.

• Auxiliary personnel, forced to take over some of the tasks of magistrates

Clerks are also unhappy with the state of things, especially due to their wages and the lack of a regulatory body for their institution. Ştefania Teleman, the president of the National Union Federation "Projust", said that the auxiliary judicial personnel is concerned with the fact that the Supreme Court of Magistrates and the Ministry of Justice are working on several laws which would require clerks to take over some of magistrates" duties. She said: "There is currently a pilot project under way by which panels would consist of one judge and two clerks. Clerks don"t have a maximum workload set by law and determining it in advance is impossible". Ştefania Teleman also added that the organization she leads would like the auxiliary personnel be designated as specialized personnel. She also said that the Collective Labor Contract of workers in the judicial system expires in March, and warned that court clerks are prepared to go on strike if the Ministry ignores their demands, which include the creation of a institution for upholding their rights.

• Mediation, the new solution for avoiding going to court

Judges and plaintiffs see mediation as a way to unburden the courts. Starting with March 1st, 2010, mediation will become compulsory and judges will suggest its use over standard lawsuits. Zeno Sustac, the co-chairman of the National Union of Romanian Mediators (UNMR), describes the benefits of the method: "Individuals and companies can resort to mediation to settle their disagreements with banks, insurance or leasing companies, as well as with central or local public institutions. Mediation has an 80% chance of success, mediation usually takes less than two hours. Since it involves direct negotiation between the parties, mediation is a viable solution for settling disagreements. Mediation can lead to the adoption of various compromise solutions, such as payment rescheduling, the renegotiation of the value of receivables, the renegotiation of the contracts, or even the creation of new partnership agreements. Mediation is the smart, fast and cheap solution in times of crisis".

In this particular respect, Romania is behind other countries, where mediation is a practice which has been in use for more than 20 years. There are currently 1100 mediators in Romania, with an estimated demand for more than 3000 mediators.

• Courts facing eviction

Employees in the legal system are also faced with inadequate work conditions, officials of professional organizations in the sector say, who say that funding for the system is sorely lacking. Dana Gîrbovan, the leader of the Romanian National Union of Judges mentions the insufficient number of courtrooms, the lack of funds for the decrepit buildings and the lack of professional training programs. Under these circumstances, says Dana Gîrbovan, judges are forced to take turn using the courtrooms. The head of the Association of Romanian magistrates, Mona Pivniceru, said that last year there were cases where several courthouses were disconnected from the utility grids, and were served with notices of eviction.