FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 39622/09
by M.W.
against the United Kingdom
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 30 August 2011 as a Committee composed of:
Päivi Hirvelä, President,
Ledi Bianku,
Zdravka Kalaydjieva, judges,
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 20 July 2009,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
PROCEDURE
The applicant, M.W., is a British national who was born in 1961 and lives in Devizes. The Vice-President of the Section has decided that the applicant’s identity should not be disclosed to the public (Rule 47 § 3). The United Kingdom Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr D. Walton of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The applicant complained that the domestic courts’ dismissal of his claim for tortious deceit against his ex-wife, who had only disclosed to him that he was not the biological father of their eldest child when the child was sixteen years old, violated his rights under Articles 6, 8, 12, 13 and 14 of the Convention.
On 26 May 2010 and 27 February 2011 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicant agreed to waive any further claims against the United Kingdom in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay him 2,500 euros to cover any pecuniary and non‑pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which will be converted into British pounds 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 pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 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 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 (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention).
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.
Fatoş AracıPäivi Hirvelä
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy