FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 15446/15
Nicoleta BORDEI against Romania
and 19 other applications
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 11 October 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 were communicated to the Romanian Government (“the Government”). In application no. 46212/15, the applicant also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.
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. Remaining complaints
In application no. 46212/15, the applicant also raised other complaints under Article 14 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 to the Convention.
The Court notes that the applicant simply cites the above provisions of the Convention and its Protocol without explaining in what way they have been breached. Furthermore, neither the factual nor the legal arguments are evident from the facts of the case (see Baillard v. France (dec.), no. 6032/04, 25 September 2008).
It follows that this part of application no. 46212/15 is 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 8 November 2018.
Liv TigerstedtGeorges Ravarani
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention
(excessive length of civil proceedings)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Date of birth / Date of registration
Representative’s name and location
Start of proceedings
End of proceedings
Total length
Levels of jurisdiction
Domestic court file number
15446/15
23/03/2015
Nicoleta Bordei
29/07/1966
Monica-Ana-Georgiana Dima
Bucharest
28/04/2010
25/11/2014
4 years, 6 months and 29 days
1 level of jurisdiction
31552/302/2014
16750/15
02/04/2015
Oilfield Exploration Business Solutions S.A.
20/11/2001
Ovidiu Ion Budușan
Bucharest
20/04/2007
07/10/2014
7 years, 5 months and 20 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
30041.01/3/2006*
17206/15
01/04/2015
Vasile Cioclu
01/01/1965
22/11/2006
20/10/2014
7 years, 10 months and 29 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
22852/245/2006
17488/15
30/03/2015
Elisabeta Nemeth
11/12/1953
31/05/2007
29/09/2014
7 years, 4 months and 1 day
3 levels of jurisdiction
236/1/2014
18223/15
24/03/2015
Ion Florea
05/06/1950
Maria Florea
10/07/1953
04/12/2006
14/10/2014
7 years, 10 months and 12 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
1045/191/2006
18553/15
30/03/2015
Natalia Mihai
23/02/1958
25/10/2005
10/12/2015
10 years, 1 month and 17 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
213/318/2005**
19871/15
09/04/2015
Oana-Liliana Fifea
01/06/1975
Victoria Patit
Bucharest
20/12/2007
16/10/2014
6 years, 9 months and 28 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
2877/2/2014
21435/15
28/04/2015
Dumitru Răduță
11/10/1945
Alexandra Cristina Jipa
Bucharest
08/01/2008
29/10/2014
6 years, 9 months and 22 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
14569/94/2012
21543/15
23/04/2015
Teodor Lazăr
11/03/1967
Adrian Stancu
Oradea
24/08/2009
08/10/2014
5 years, 1 month and 15 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
11628/271/2012
24376/15
11/05/2015
S.C. Mch International Business S.R.L.
05/04/2011
Mariana Ștefan
Bucharest
24/04/2008
16/01/2015
6 years, 8 months and 24 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
15809./3/2008*
24480/15
12/05/2015
Cornel Popescu
02/03/1955
Marius-Viorel Nedela
Reșița
20/03/2006
20/06/2012
12/04/2012
13/11/2014
8 years, 5 months and 18 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
1605.1/290/2006*
24623/15
12/05/2015
Liana-Corina Alexan
11/11/1969
27/08/2009
27/10/2014
5 years, 2 months and 1 day
2 levels of jurisdiction
19747/271/2011*
25473/15
21/05/2015
S.C. Lardis & Partners S.R.L.
27/10/1999
Dionyssios Lardis
Limassol
01/10/2003
17/02/2015
11 years, 4 months and 20 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
36720/3/2012
25920/15
22/05/2015
Rebecca Maria Moldoveanu
28/10/2010
Nicoleta Tatiana Popescu
Bucharest
21/06/2012
02/12/2014
2 years, 5 months and 12 days
1 level of jurisdiction
20807/4/2014
26380/15
28/05/2015
Teodor Alin Tău
13/06/1969
27/02/2008
02/12/2014
6 years, 9 months and 6 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
36049/215/2010*
32656/15
18/06/2015
Roquette Romania S.A.
09/05/1991
Teodora Koletsis
Bucharest
07/08/2003
04/12/2014
11 years and 4 months
2 levels of jurisdiction
669/1752/2014
33117/15
30/06/2015
Victor Raoul Dan Diamandescu
28/08/1936
20/05/2010
02/04/2015
4 years, 10 months and 14 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
647/2/2015
34665/15
24/08/2015
Gheorghe Bârligeanu
05/09/1949
09/04/2010
26/05/2015
5 years, 1 month and 17 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
3427/315/2010**
35007/15
08/07/2015
Constantin Dragomirescu
13/02/1956
Dragoş-Ioan Mateescu
Piteşti
25/05/2010
11/12/2014
4 years, 6 months and 18 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
1122/214/2010*
46212/15
11/09/2015
Dicran-Vahacn Martaian
25/05/1936
19/12/2003
13/03/2015
11 years, 2 months and 26 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
23/119/2003*
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy