FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 35732/15
Ludovic BARA against Romania
and 17 other applications
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 13 September 2018 as a Committee composed of:
Georges Ravarani, President,
Marko Bošnjak,
Péter Paczolay, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by some of the applicants,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.
The applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the excessive length of civil proceedings as well as the complaints in some of the applications under Article 13 of the Convention, concerning the lack of an effective remedy, were communicated to the Romanian Government (“the Government”).
THE LAW
A. Joinder of the applications
Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
B. Complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (excessive length of civil proceedings)
The Government pleaded non-exhaustion of domestic remedies under Article 35 § 1 of the Convention since the applicants had not pursued an action for tortious liability.
Those applicants who replied to the Government’s observations disagreed with the preliminary objection of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies.
In the case of Brudan v. Romania (no. 75717/14, § 68, 10 April 2018), the Court held that following its judgment in the case of Vlad and Others v. Romania (nos. 40756/06 and 2 others, 26 November 2013), the action for tortious liability had been included by the domestic courts as an effective remedy to complain about the excessive length of proceedings, before both criminal and civil courts in Romania. In Brudan (cited above), the Court also found that the High Court for Cassation and Justice’s judgment of 30 January 2014, which consolidated the domestic case-law on actions for tortious liability, had acquired a sufficient level of certainty on 22 March 2015. It therefore concluded that this remedy must be exhausted, as of that date, for the purposes of Article 35 § 1 of the Convention (see Brudan, cited above, § 88).
The present applications were all lodged with the Court after 22 March 2015 (see the appended table) and the applicants were therefore required by Article 35 § 1 of the Convention to avail themselves of this domestic remedy (see Brudan, cited above, § 89). It appears from the case-files that the applicants have not lodged actions for tortious liability before the domestic courts, or have failed to provide the Court with a final decision rendered by the competent court in such proceedings.
Accordingly, the Government’s objection of failure to exhaust domestic remedies must be upheld. It follows that these complaints must be rejected as inadmissible, pursuant to Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.
C. Complaints under Article 13 of the Convention
Given that the applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention have been rejected for non-exhaustion of domestic remedies, no issue arises in relation to the applicants’ complaints under Article 13 raised in applications nos. 28975/16 and 43919/16. It follows that they are manifestly ill-founded and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Declares the applications inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 4 October 2018.
Liv TigerstedtGeorges Ravarani
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 of the Convention
(excessive length of civil proceedings and lack of an effective remedy)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Date of birth
Representative’s name and location
Start of proceedings
End of proceedings
Total length
Levels of jurisdiction
Domestic court file number
Other complaints under well-established case-law
35732/15
14/07/2015
Ludovic Bara
01/07/1934
07/06/2007
14/01/2015
7 years, 7 months and 10 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
4857/320/2007
37341/15
25/07/2015
Mihaela Adina Popescu
09/04/1961
Elena Martinescu
Bucharest
03/05/2007
29/01/2015
7 years, 8 months and 29 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
4564/302/2007
37539/15
22/07/2015
Liviu Balint
30/06/1952
Marius Popoviciu
Oradea
20/06/2007
06/07/2017
10 years and 19 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
5232/271/2007**
40060/15
08/08/2015
(3 applicants)
Ana Maria Alecsandrescu
17/12/1979
Elena Iordache
10/10/1951
Suzana Văru
04/06/1943
02/04/2004
26/11/2014
10 years, 7 months and 27 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
21/212/2004
42754/15
29/07/2015
Marin Iliescu
08/04/1954
29/12/2008
30/01/2015
6 years, 1 month and 3 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
49854/3/2008
42788/15
21/09/2015
Iuliana Sălceanu
01/03/1944
09/02/2011
29/05/2015
4 years, 3 months and 18 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
15989/233/2011
43101/15
20/08/2015
Gyongyver-Ibolya Molnar
29/03/1967
Viorel Gorea
Târgu-Mureş
21/09/2012
23/02/2015
2 years, 5 months and 3 days
1 level of jurisdiction
16803/320/2014
46328/15
11/09/2015
Titu Petroșanu
25/11/1943
Olimpia Popescu
Râmnicu Vâlcea
08/07/2008
26/03/2015
6 years, 8 months and 18 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
4089/90/2012
49731/15
06/10/2015
Constantin Dumitru
15/03/1937
Dumitra Daon
Constanţa
13/03/2006
09/03/2015
8 years, 11 months and 28 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
6231/118/2006
50562/15
28/08/2015
Roza Șutru
08/11/1940
09/07/2010
15/05/2015
4 years, 10 months and 7 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
2775/1748/2008
56211/15
05/11/2015
Stana Bădan
17/05/1943
20/11/2012
11/06/2015
2 years, 6 months and 20 days
1 level of jurisdiction
10538/215/2015
11073/16
17/02/2016
Ioan Mihăilă
Born :10/12/1936
Deceased: 22/01/2017
Proceedings pursued by heir Maria Vasiescu
27/03/1945
Paul Rusu
Târgu-Mureş
17/11/2003
10/03/2016
12 years, 3 months and 25 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
15084/320/2013
17443/16
24/03/2016
Gheorghe Paina
07/12/1948
Mircea Traian Golea
Oradea
26/07/2011
03/11/2015
4 years, 3 months and 10 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
9495/111/2011
24147/16
15/04/2016
Ghiță Costan
15/02/1958
01/06/2009
15/10/2015
6 years, 4 months and 15 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
4529/190/2009
28378/16
12/05/2016
Viorica-Torii Caciuc
10/05/1971
02/09/2008
27/01/2016
7 years, 4 months and 26 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
9772/233/2008
28975/16
17/05/2016
Vasile Soare
04/08/1959
Graziela Bârlă
Bucharest
05/05/2006
18/11/2015
9 years, 6 months and 16 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
7267/280/2009*
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of excessive length of civil proceedings.
41492/16
01/07/2016
Florin-Romeo Ciutacu
24/12/1972
Răzvan Ivănescu
Galaţi
24/05/2011
25/02/2016
4 years, 9 months and 4 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
10695/233/2011
43919/16
18/07/2016
Monica Cosma
26/07/1972
30/03/2010
26/01/2016
5 years, 9 months and 29 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
1975/1748/2010
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of excessive length of civil proceedings.
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