FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 51004/13
Sándorné DÚCS and Others
against Hungary
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 20 October 2015 as a Committee composed of:
Elisabeth Steiner, President,
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska,
Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, judges,
and André Wampach, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 31 July 2013,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The application was lodged by three applicants. The first and second applicants, Ms Sándorné Dúcs and Ms Anita Rajzné Dúcs are Hungarian nationals, who were born in 1956 and 1983, respectively, and live in Budapest.
The third applicant, Ms Magdolna Szabóné Dúcs, was also a Hungarian national, who was born in 1977 and lived in Budapest.
On 25 March 2015 the Court was informed about the death of the third applicant on 9 November 2013.
On 18 May 2015 Ms Dóra Eszter Szabó, a Hungarian national born in 2005 and living in Budapest, the only daughter and heir of Ms Magdolna Szabóné Dúcs – and her successor in part of the domestic proceedings – notified the Court about her wish to pursue the application lodged by the late applicant. She was represented before the Court by Dr Béla Tamás Pelle, a lawyer practicing in Budapest.
The Hungarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by Mr Z. Tallódi, Agent, Ministry of Justice.
The applicants complained under Article 6 of the Convention about the length of civil proceedings to which they were parties.
On 27 and 30 July 2015 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Hungary in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay them 9,000 euros each to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which will be converted into Hungarian forints at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and 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.
Done in English and notified in writing on 12 November 2015.
André WampachElisabeth Steiner
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy