Late judgment leads to formal advice for judicial misconduct

A judge has been issued with formal advice for misconduct after she took more than a year to hand down a judgment on costs.

Insolvency and Companies Court judge Catherine Burton was found to have taken 16 months to provide parties with a judgment, a delay which the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said 'amounted to misconduct'.

A spokesperson said that: ‘Whilst the nominated judge [who carried out an investigation] found that several emails from the parties chasing the judgment were not referred to Judge Burton, there were still sufficient opportunities for the judge to have prepared her judgment in a timelier manner.

‘Judge Burton was aware that the judgment was outstanding and had kept the papers in her room for that purpose.’

Burton said she ‘recognised her responsibility for the unsatisfactory state of affairs and gave a public apology to all the parties within her judgment’. She added that ‘in future, she would ensure cases would be automatically allocated to a future hearing where there was insufficient time to hear the matter’.

The JCIO said Burton had raised the issue with the lead clerk to ensure that significant emails were passed promptly to judges in future.

Sanctions for misconduct by judicial office holders are, in order of severity, formal advice, formal warning, reprimand, and removal from office.