FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 8815/13
Maria do Rosário DA SILVA ESPADA DUARTE DE ALMEIDA and Francisco ESPADA DUARTE ALEGRIA
against Portugal
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 9 December 2014 as a Committee composed of:
Khanlar Hajiyev, President,
Julia Laffranque,
Erik Møse, judges,
and André Wampach, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 21 January 2013,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicants, Ms Maria do Rosário da Silva Espada Duarte de Almeida and Mr Francisco Espada Duarte Alegria, are Portuguese nationals, who were born in 1959 and 1986 respectively and live in Charneca da Caparica. They were represented before the Court by Mr A. Vasconcelos Abreu, a lawyer practising in Lisbon.
The Portuguese Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs M. F. da Graça Carvalho, Deputy Attorney-General.
The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of civil proceedings to which they were a party.
On 19 June and 7 October 2014 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Portugal in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to jointly pay them EUR 16,600 (sixteen thousand six hundred euros) to cover any non‑pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. It will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court. In the event of failure to pay this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on it, from the expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points. The payment will constitute the final resolution of the case.
THE LAW
The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the application. In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.
André WampachKhanlar Hajiyev
Deputy RegistrarPresident
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