FIFTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 880/07
by Birthe LUNDQUIST
against Denmark
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 29 September 2009 as a Chamber composed of:
Renate Jaeger, President,
Peer Lorenzen,
Karel Jungwiert,
Rait Maruste,
Mark Villiger,
Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre,
Zdravka Kalaydjieva, judges,
and Claudia Westerdiek, Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 December 2006,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having regard to the partial decision of 2 September 2008,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicant, Mrs Birthe Lundquist, is a Danish national who was born in 1935 and lives in Helsinge. She was represented before the Court by Steen Petersen, a lawyer practising in Glostrup. The Danish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs Nina Holst-Christensen.
On 2 September 2008 the Court decided to communicate the applicant’s complaint concerning the length of compensation proceedings, which began on 4 January 1985 and ended on 30 June 2006.
On 31 July and 3 August 2009 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicant agreed to waive any further claims against Denmark in respect of the facts giving raise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay her 12,000 Euros (EUR) to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage, which would be converted into Danish kroner (DKK) at the rate applicable on the day of the payment, and free of any taxes that may be applicable. As part of the friendly settlement, it was agreed that the issue of costs and expenses related to the submission and conducting of the application before the Court was to be resolved finally by the Civil Affairs Agency (Civilstyrelsen) taking into account that the Civil Affairs Agency already had issued a decision according to which the applicant has been granted legal aid for an amount up to DKK 40,000.
The sum of EUR 12,000 would be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to the Article 37 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Right. 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 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 would 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 public policy reasons to justify a continued examination of the application (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention). Accordingly, Article 29 § 3 of the Convention should no longer apply to the case and it should be struck out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Claudia WesterdiekRenate Jaeger
RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy