Stevedore foremen awarded damages of €700,000 for loss of licence

The Government has been ordered to pay over €700,000 in compensation to four stevedore foremen after a court ruled that their fundamental human rights to enjoyment of their property was violated by a law which made them retire on turning 61.  Mr Justice Anthony Ellul in the First Hall of the Civil Court delivered this judgment following a constitutional application filed by Anthony Attard, Armando Chircop, Anthony Spiteri and another Anthony Attard against the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, the Malta Maritime Authority, the Prime Minister, the Minister for Competitiveness and Competition and the Attorney General.. The men had filed their application in 2007 claiming that a legal notice had been promulgated in that year which had established that they, like other port workers, had to retire upon reaching the age of 61. In a preliminary judgment delivered in November 2011, the court had ruled that this legal notice was in violation of the men's right to enjoyment of their property, as they were being  deprived of their licence to work as foremen in the harbour when they reached the age of 61. The court ruled that the men's licence was their property and that failure to renew their...