Paulino Tomas v. Portugal (dec.)

Information Note on the Court’s case-law 53

May 2003

Paulino Tomas v. Portugal (dec.) - 58698/00

Decision 27.3.2003 [Section III]

Article 35

Article 35-1

Exhaustion of domestic remedies

Effective domestic remedy

Length of court proceedings: effectiveness of an action based on the non-contractual liability of the State

[This summary also covers the decision of the case Gouveia da Silva Torrado v. Portugal, no. 65305/01, 22 May 2003]

The applications concern the length of proceedings for damages for the harm sustained following a road traffic accident and enforcement proceedings aimed at seizing the bank accounts of a debtor. The first proceedings have been completed and the second are pending.

Inadmissible under Article 6 § 1: at least since October 1999, the action to establish non-contractual civil liability on the part of the State provided for in Legislative Decree No. 48051 has become an effective, adequate and accessible means of sanctioning in Portuguese law the excessive length of judicial proceedings. That action must therefore be used for the purposes of Article 35 § 1 of the Convention where the length of judicial proceedings which have been concluded or which are pending is excessive. However, that conclusion applies only on condition that the action to establish non-contractual liability on the part of the State itself remains an effective, adequate and accessible means of sanctioning the excessive length of judicial proceedings. The adequate nature of the action in liability might be affected by the excessive length of its examination and may also depend on the level of compensation awarded (see the Scordino decision of 27.3.2003, see Article 34).

The applicants, who complain before the Court of the length of the national proceedings, did not bring an action before the administrative courts to establish non-contractual liability on the part of the State. When they introduced their application, such an action had the nature of a remedy to be exhausted in accordance with Article 35 § 1 of the Convention: failure to exhaust all domestic remedies.

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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.

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