Canary Islands require a minimum of seven new courts and four more positions in collegiate bodies to cope with the current litigation overload. This was explained by the President of the Canary Islands High Court, Juan Luis Lorenzo Bragado, who presented the 2023 Report of the TSJC yesterday.
According to the report, in the province of Las Palmas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria would need a Court of First Instance, one for Social Affairs, and two positions in the civil sections of the Provincial Court. In addition to this, a Court of First Instance and Investigation in Arucas and another in Telde. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, one position in the Social Section of the High Court based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, one in the civil sections of the Provincial Court, one in the Court of First Instance in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and one in the Administrative Court, as well as one more in the Court of First Instance and Investigation.
Supported by members of the Government Chamber, Lorenzo Bragado detailed the report, which also includes data showing that the 211 judicial bodies in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands recorded a total of 417,539 cases last year in the four legal jurisdictions – civil, criminal, Administrative Law, and Social Affairs – a 5.9% increase compared to the previous year, leaving 211,189 lawsuits pending resolution, a 20.3% increase from 2022. 380,394 cases were resolved, a 1.3% increase from 2022.
The President highlighted the increase in pending cases for resolution, which rose by 20.3% last year, “despite dedication and high performance,” whereas in 2022, the increase was 11%.
The Archipelago is once again the territory with the most lawsuits for the fourth consecutive year
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Lorenzo Bragado, who explained the urgent need for more judicial bodies, presented data from the study showing that in 2022 five judicial units were created, of which, to date, May 2024, three have not yet become operational – a court in Granadilla and two in San Bartolomé de Tirajana – and the six created in 2023 have also not started operating (new courts of first instance in La Laguna, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and Arrecife, one for Domestic Violence in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and a new court in Puerto del Rosario).
According to TSJC’s Report data, the Canary Islands are once again, for the fourth consecutive year, the territory in the country with the highest litigation rate: 188.67 lawsuits per 1,000 inhabitants, 43.01 more than the national average (145.66) and 31.91 more than the second in the ranking, Andalusia, which recorded 156.76 lawsuits per 1,000 inhabitants.
Regarding judicial districts, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria had the highest number of all types of lawsuits recorded last year (107,158) in absolute terms. Compared to 2022, processes increased by 2.5% in the capital’s judicial district.
The study also shows that, in the period analysed, the Islands have always been above the national average in terms of lawsuit density, with two clearly distinct periods: the period from 2013 to 2015, where the Canary Islands had a higher rate than the national average but with very close values, and the period from 2015 to 2023, where the difference between the Islands and the national average increased significantly.
The capital’s judicial districts settle the most disputes
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Lorenzo Bragado also contextualised the report from the previous year, “which marked the return to normality of judicial activity after the organizational and technological measures implemented to deal with Covid-19,” and noted that it was also marked by the strike of Justice Administration officials and lawyers, which significantly affected the operation of the courts.
“We cannot forget, towards the end of the year, the invectives against the Judiciary contained in the investiture agreement signed by two political forces, referring to ‘lawfare,’ the politicisation of politics, and the announcement of parliamentary investigative commissions to hold judges accountable,” he added.
More tourists, more lawsuits
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The President emphasized that the Governing Chamber, unanimously, and in line with the agreement adopted by the Permanent Commission of the General Council of the Judiciary and the statements signed by all judicial and prosecutorial associations in Spain, “expressed its strongest rejection of such references at its meeting on November 10th”.
The President also pointed out that in this context, the Canary Islands received over 16 million international tourists, representing 16% of the resident population, according to Promotur data. “As we have highlighted in previous editions, this data should prompt a reconsideration of the parameters on which the needs of the Justice Administration should be based, i.e., attention should not only be given to the legal population, but also to the actual population,” he noted.
Marital Breakups
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According to the 2023 Memory of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, the judicial bodies of the Canary Islands recorded the highest rate in the country of requests for marital dissolution per 100,000 inhabitants as of December 31, 2023, as has been the case uninterruptedly since December 2019.
Between January and December of last year, the civil courts of the Archipelago recorded a total of 5,473 requests for separations, divorces, or annulments, a 1.4% increase compared to 2022, which was 5,398. This represents a rate of 247.3 marriage breakdowns per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest in Spain during the reference period. The second community was the Balearic Islands (219.9), and the third was Murcia (204.3). The national average was 192.1 matrimonial breakdowns per 100,000 inhabitants, that is, 55.2 points below the Canary Islands’ average. Conversely, the lowest rates were seen in the Basque Country, with 157.1; Castile and León, with 158.2; and Madrid, with 160.9.
By provinces, the number of marital breakups was higher in Las Palmas (2,754) than in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (2,719).
Highest Rates in the Country
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In the realm of processes for eviction resulting in eviction, the Canary Islands registered the second highest rate in the country in 2022 concerning evictions derived from the Urban Leases Law, 63.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, surpassed only by Catalonia (65.3). The region with the lowest rate was, as it was last year, Navarre (16.1). In overall eviction figures, the Canary courts carried out a total of 1,782 in 2023, a 27.1% decrease from 2022.
Regarding dismissal claims, the social courts of the Canary Islands initiated a total of 10,176 in 2023, a 16.7% increase from the previous year (8,721). This data implies that the rate of dismissal claims per 100,000 inhabitants in the Islands was 459.8, the highest in the country.
Regarding the Court of Violence against Children and Adolescents of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which took on the duties of the Court of Instruction number 3 of said judicial district as a national pilot experience, recorded in its second year of operation (from October 1, 2022, the day it started, to October 1, 2023) a total of 607 reports, representing a 66.3% increase compared to the volume of proceedings initiated in the first year.
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The judicial body’s statistics reveal that in the second year of the organ’s activity, a total of 235 alleged cases of crimes against the sexual freedom of minors were reported in the judicial district (with jurisdiction over the municipalities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Brígida and Vega de San Mateo). This represents a 95% increase in these types of preliminary proceedings compared to the first year.
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