FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 46756/15
Valentin-Gabi LINȚA against Romania
and 11 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 / Date of registration
Representative’s name and location
Start of proceedings
End of proceedings
Total length
Levels of jurisdiction
Domestic court file number
46756/15
11/09/2015
Valentin-Gabi Lința
26/05/1960
Ana Daniela Iordan
Timișoara
23/12/2008
11/03/2015
6 years and 2 months and
17 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
20335/325/2008
46829/15
18/09/2015
Gheorghe Gheorghiu
05/11/1953
10/04/2009
26/03/2015
5 years and 11 months
and 17 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
1745/105/2009/a1.1
47103/15
14/09/2015
Sabina Sultana
24/08/1969
20/06/2006
16/03/2015
8 years and 8 months and
25 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
22483/3/2013
47154/15
15/09/2015
Cătălin Smeu-Mare
10/03/1982
23/05/2008
17/03/2015
6 years and 9 months and
23 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
13314/63/2010**
47328/15
21/09/2015
Doina Iliescu
04/06/1943
26/07/1999
24/04/2015
15 years and 8 months
and 30 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
12932./299/2007*
51916/15
16/10/2015
S.C. Mihadi Divers Construct S.R.L.
22/11/2006
Mirel Răzvan Ioniță
Pitești
26/06/2008
22/05/2015
6 years and 10 months
and 27 days
1 level of jurisdiction
1002/280/2015
43/16
15/12/2015
Rodica-Ştefania Daia
18/06/1954
03/11/1999
16/06/2015
15 years and 7 months
and 14 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
194/2/2015
5412/16
14/01/2016
Paul Potop
03/04/1960
Gheorghe Furtună
08/04/1971
30/09/2010
17/07/2015
4 years and 9 months and
18 days
1 levels of jurisdiction
1104/338/2015
12867/16
29/02/2016
Maria-Magdolna Lunka
07/09/1972
06/01/2010
06/10/2015
5 years and 9 months
2 levels of jurisdiction
15209/245/2012
14656/16
05/03/2016
Vasile Brezeanu
25/07/1957
21/06/2011
12/10/2015
4 years and 3 months and
22 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
1090/283/2011*
16008/16
14/03/2016
Mihaela Daniela Butan
28/10/1980
24/11/2010
15/09/2015
4 years and 9 months and
23 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
4013/121/2011**
19929/16
04/04/2016
Daniela Alexandrina Mitrache
06/03/1971
Elena Florența Mitrache
11/03/1969
18/03/2010
04/01/2016
5 years and 9 months and
18 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
11000/299/2010
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