FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 12005/15
Gheorghe IFTINCHI and Ana IFTINCHI against Romania
and 8 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
1. The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.
2. 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”).
THE LAW
A. Joinder of the applications
3. 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
4. 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.
5. Those applicants who replied to the Government’s observations disagreed with the preliminary objection of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies.
6. 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).
7. 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.
8. 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.
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 of the Convention
(excessive length of civil proceedings)
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
12005/15
01/04/2015
Gheorghe Iftinchi
22/05/1951
Ana Iftinchi
09/02/1955
10/10/2003
01/10/2014
11 year(s)
3 level(s) of jurisdiction
1265.2/32/2006*
15458/15
23/03/2015
Ion Stănescu
13/10/1937
Elena Stănescu
29/09/1933
17/11/2009
02/10/2014
4 year(s) and 11 month(s)
2 level(s) of jurisdiction
18107/280/2009
16708/15
02/04/2015
Ruxandra-Mihaela Datcu
02/01/1962
Silviu-Adrian Aștefanei
25/08/1956
21/07/2006
15/09/2014
8 year(s) and 2 month(s)
3 level(s) of jurisdiction
13721/301/2006
57687/15
12/11/2015
Lidia Murășan
08/02/1937
12/11/2003
04/12/2014
11 year(s) and 23 day(s)
2 level(s) of jurisdiction
577/118/2013
24484/16
23/04/2016
(20 applicants)
Cristina Herskovits
02/07/1968
Amelia Boată
19/10/1943
Floarea Boboc
28/09/1949
Marcela Bornaz
17/08/1938
Lucian Buliga
29/11/1952
Constantin Buţu
21/05/1944
Aurel Buzatu
01/05/1957
Olga Cazan
04/04/1970
Aurelian-Doru Guţă
30/07/1970
Elena Iova
24/06/1957
Gheorghe-Dănuţ Pîrvu
22/06/1967
Floarea Pîrvu
03/09/1942
Ion Răduţ
24/04/1946
Victoria Răduţ
30/03/1951
Iordache Tuţă
07/01/1936
Oprea-Constantin Tuţă
15/01/1952
Household
Ion Ionică
18/09/1947
Marcela Ionică
06/09/1948
Household
Cristinel Iovan
02/11/1966
Elisabeta Iovan
20/02/1944
Simona Leoveanu,
Craiova
30/08/2006
29/10/2015
9 year(s) and 2 month(s)
3 level(s) of jurisdiction
2683/90/2011*
45792/16
28/07/2016
Rodica Anastasescu
23/03/1952
08/10/2010
14/01/2016
5 year(s) and 3 month(s) and
7 day(s) 2 level(s) of jurisdiction
13238/306/2010**
46017/16
02/08/2016
Ancuța-Cristina Șerban
27/01/1969
Dragoş Ciupercescu,
Bucharest
14/11/2011
27/01/2017
5 year(s) and 2 month(s) and
14 day(s)
1 level(s) of jurisdiction
705/II-2/2015
47061/16
01/08/2016
Maria-Rodica Crainic
03/05/1958
Nicolae Dăgău,
Oradea
19/02/2004
20/04/2016
12 year(s) and 2 month(s) and
2 day(s)
3 level(s) of jurisdiction
1643/271/2006*
47695/16
05/08/2016
Alexandru-Marius Richtberg
26/04/1977
05/04/2005
22/01/2016
10 year(s) and 9 month(s) and
18 day(s)
3 level(s) of jurisdiction
3165/299/2007*
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy