In September 2012, John Carridice, a father of four, intervened to break up a street fight in the Bronx. When the police showed up, they arrested him and charged him with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and other misdemeanor violations.

Over the next few years, Mr. Carridice, now 38, appeared 20 times in Bronx Criminal Court. Six times, prosecutors said they were not ready for a trial. Ten other times, both sides were ready, but no judges or courtrooms were available. In June 2015, more than a thousand days after his arrest, Mr. Carridice’s case finally went to trial. He was acquitted on all counts.

This Dickensian nightmare is all too common in the Bronx, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Federal District Court by the Bronx Defenders, which represents indigent clients, and by two private law firms. The suit alleges that backlogs in the borough’s criminal courts have led to delays so extreme — the average wait for a jury trial on a misdemeanor charge is 827 days — that they violate the Constitution.

The problem is a horribly managed court system that has neither the resources nor the incentive to move any faster, the plaintiffs say. Most misdemeanor defendants, like Mr. Carridice, are not jailed during this time, but they are required to return to court every several weeks and spend all day waiting for their cases to be called, only to be told that the proceedings are being put off for another month. Having to appear in court, time after time, means these defendants miss work, lose wages and in some cases their jobs.