FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 66537/12
Lajos LEDERER and others
against Hungary
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 15 December 2015 as a Committee composed of:
Nona Tsotsoria, President,
Krzysztof Wojtyczek,
Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, judges,
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 9 October 2012,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix. They were represented before the Court by Mr G. Hetényi, a lawyer practising in Budapest.
The Hungarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by Mr Z. Tallódi, Agent, Ministry of Justice.
The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of civil proceedings to which they were parties.
On 4 February and 12 March 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, to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, the following sums:
– EUR 12,000 (twelve thousand euros) to each of the applicants Lajos Lederer, János Katona, Sándor Bana and Mária Farkas;
– EUR 12,000 (twelve thousand euros) jointly to the applicants Magdolna Ábrahám and Imréné Ábrahám;
– EUR 12,000 (twelve thousand euros) jointly to the applicants Lajos Nagy and Lajosné Nagy; and
– EUR 12,000 (twelve thousand euros) jointly to the applicants Csaba Latorczai and Zsombor Latorczai.
Subsequently, the Court was informed of the deaths of Mr Lajos Nagy and Ms Imréné Ábrahám.
The applicants’ lawyer submitted Hungarian notarial acts proving that Ms Lajosné Nagy and Ms Magdolna Ábrahám – who would have been entitled to certain sums jointly with the deceased applicants under the terms of the friendly settlement declaration – were the only heirs in respect of these claims under the domestic law.
In view of those facts and documents, the Court is satisfied that the payment envisaged by the friendly settlement declarations will take place in regard to the two deceased applicants as follows: EUR 12,000 (twelve thousand euros) to Magdolna Ábrahám and EUR 12,000 (twelve thousand euros) to Lajosné Nagy.
These sums 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. They 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 these sums within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on them, 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 payments 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 14 January 2016.
Fatoş AracıNona Tsotsoria
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Appendix Lajos LEDERER is a Hungarian national, lives in Budapest Imréné ÁBRAHÁM was a Hungarian national, lived in Budapest Magdolna ÁBRAHÁM is a Hungarian national, lives in Budapest Sándor BANA is a Hungarian national, lives in Budapest Mária FARKAS is a Hungarian national, lives in Budapest János KATONA is a Hungarian national, lives in Budapest Csaba LATORCZAI is a Hungarian national, lives in Budakeszi Zsombor LATORCZAI is a Hungarian national, lives in Budakeszi Lajos NAGY was a Hungarian national, lived in BudapestLajosné NAGY is a Hungarian national, lives in Budapest
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy