While the Minister for Business and Labour, Miquel Sàmper, assured this very Monday that “Lleida has the greatest capacity for growth in Catalonia,” the city’s courts recorded a devastating figure that contradicts any serious economic development rhetoric: the civil divisions of Lleida’s courts are the most saturated in all of Spain, handling more cases and issuing more rulings than any other civil jurisdiction in the country. The paradox is insulting. The same Catalan government that boasts of attracting investment to Lleida is the one that maintains a collapsed justice administration, where massive banking litigation, orchestrated by large law firms, has turned the courts into a genuine lawsuit factory. Without legal certainty there is no investment, and without investment there is no growth. But Sàmper’s ministry prefers not to look at the data from the General Council of the Judiciary.
The record no one wants to see: Lleida leads civil court saturation in Spain
The data is irrefutable and comes from the latest statistics from the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), reported by the newspaper Segre in its July 6 edition. The civil divisions of Lleida’s courts register more cases and issue more rulings than any other civil jurisdiction in Spain. This is neither an exaggeration nor local alarmism: it is first place in a ranking no city wants to lead.
The saturation is not due to an increase in common crime or neighborhood conflicts. The main cause, according to legal professionals consulted by Segre, is “banking litigation driven by large law firms.” In other words, Lleida’s judicial machinery is clogged by an avalanche of claims against financial institutions, floor clauses, mortgage costs, revolving credit cards, that major law firms channel into Lleida’s courts as if on an assembly line.
The impact on the average citizen is direct. A Lleida resident who needs to resolve a civil dispute, an inheritance, an eviction, a non-payment, faces waiting times that double the national average. Justice, which should be the last resort for settling disputes, has become a bottleneck that discourages even the legitimate exercise of claims.
Banking litigation: a business that collapses Lleida’s justice system
It is no coincidence that Lleida leads this statistic. The province, with an economic structure based on small businesses, agribusiness, and a network of SMEs, has become the preferred destination for large firms specialized in banking claims. The reason: Lleida’s courts, traditionally more agile than those in Barcelona or Madrid, until recently offered a fast track for litigation. That initial agility attracted an avalanche of cases that has now collapsed the system.
CGPJ data reveals that Lleida’s civil divisions not only receive more cases but also issue more rulings. This means judges are working at an unsustainable pace, but the influx of new cases exceeds any capacity to resolve them. It is a vicious cycle: the more lawsuits are resolved, the more come in, because firms know that Lleida issues rulings relatively quickly… until the system collapses.
Legal professionals have been calling for an increase in court positions in Lleida for months. The request is reasonable: if the workload is the highest in Spain, it stands to reason that the staff of judges, court clerks, and civil servants should be reinforced proportionally. But the Catalan government, which holds transferred powers over material and personnel resources for the Administration of Justice, has not responded. The silence from the Ministry of Justice is deafening.
The contrast with Sàmper’s rhetoric: growth without justice is smoke
On the same day Segre published these figures, Minister Miquel Sàmper visited Lleida to present the new reindustrialization plan of the Catalan government. His statements were reported by local media: “Lleida has the greatest capacity for growth in Catalonia,” he said. Sàmper talked about industrial estates, logistics, renewable energy. He did not once mention the word “justice.”
The omission is not innocent. Any serious investor, before setting up a factory or logistics hub in Lleida, assesses the legal certainty of the territory. If the courts are collapsed, contracts take years to enforce, commercial litigation drags on forever, and claims pile up, the risk skyrockets. A company that needs to resolve a conflict with a supplier or customer cannot afford the current waiting times in Lleida’s justice system.
Sàmper’s speech is, at best, naive. At worst, it is a smokescreen to hide the lack of investment in basic state infrastructure in Lleida. For years, the pro-independence Catalan government has neglected justice in the Ponent regions, prioritizing resources toward the Barcelona metropolitan area. The result is this: courts that break saturation records while the government sells industrial growth as if justice were irrelevant.
The real impact for the citizens of Lleida
Beyond the statistics, court saturation has concrete consequences for the people of Lleida. A small business owner who needs to claim a commercial debt faces months of waiting. A family litigating over an inheritance may see the process drag on for years. A citizen who has suffered an abusive clause in their mortgage will have to join a waiting list that is already the longest in Spain.
Moreover, banking litigation has a perverse effect: large law firms can afford to wait because they litigate in bulk with low fixed costs. But the individual citizen or small business lacks that capacity. Justice thus becomes a luxury for those who can afford to wait and a barrier for those who need a swift resolution.
Legal professionals in Lleida have proposed concrete solutions: create new civil courts, reinforce existing staff, implement more efficient case management systems. But none of these measures depend on judges or civil servants. They depend on the Catalan government, which holds the authority to provide resources to the administration of justice. And so far, the government has not made a move.
A reflection for the future: justice cannot be Lleida’s bottleneck
Lleida has growth potential. The strategic location, the agribusiness sector, the logistical connection with the Mediterranean corridor and the Ebro axis are real assets. But no reindustrialization plan will be credible if the justice administration remains collapsed. Legal certainty is not an extra: it is the basic infrastructure on which any market economy rests.
Minister Sàmper should take note. If he truly believes Lleida has the capacity to grow, the first thing he must do is demand from his colleague in government, the Minister of Justice, that Lleida’s courts be reinforced. Meanwhile, his statements about industrial growth will sound hollow to any Lleida resident who has had to wait a year for a judge to resolve their claim.
Lleida’s lawsuit factory is not a minor issue. It is a symptom of an autonomous administration that prioritizes political rhetoric over efficient management of public services. And as long as the pro-independence government continues to look the other way, the most saturated courts in Spain will remain those in Lleida, dragging down any real possibility of economic development. Justice cannot wait. And neither can the people of Lleida.