Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 126
January 2010
Bock v. Germany (dec.) - 22051/07
Decision 19.1.2010 [Section V]
Article 35
Article 35-3
Abuse of the right of petition
Length of proceedings complaint concerning a token sum of money: inadmissible
Facts – In 2002 the applicant, a civil servant, brought administrative proceedings for the reimbursement of EUR 7.99 he had spent on magnesium tablets he had been prescribed by a doctor. The proceedings lasted until December 2007.
Law – Article 35 § 3: The applicant complained about the length of the domestic proceedings and the lack of an effective remedy in that respect. The Court noted that it already had a heavy overload of pending cases, including a large number of cases that raised serious human-rights issues, and that the type of alleged violations in the applicant’s case had already been dealt with in numerous previous cases. It attached particular importance to the petty nature of the subject-matter of the dispute, the applicant’s comfortable financial situation and his extensive use of court proceedings. In the Court’s view, it was precisely cases like this that contributed to the congestion of courts at the domestic level and led to delays in proceedings.
Conclusion: inadmissible (abuse of the right of petition).
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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