Communicated on 30 June 2014
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 32486/14
Miroslav SAMARDŽIĆ against Croatia
lodged on 15 April 2014
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Miroslav Samardžić, is a Croatian national, who was born in 1955 and lives in Pula. He is represented before the Court by Mr M. Ilić, a lawyer practising in Pula.
A. The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On 26 June 2004 the applicant lodged a civil action against company T. in the Pula Municipal Court (Općinski sud u Puli) claiming damages related to his previous employment with that company.
On 20 February 2008 the Pula Municipal Court dismissed the applicant’s civil action as ill-founded.
Against the first-instance judgment the applicant lodged an appeal with the Pula County Court (Županijski sud u Puli) alleging numerous substantive and procedural flaws.
On 12 September 2011 the Pula County Court, relying on section 373a of the Civil Procedure Act, dismissed the applicant’s appeal. It agreed with the outcome of the case but held that the first-instance court misinterpreted some relevant facts.
On 5 December 2011 the applicant lodged an appeal on points of law before the Supreme Court (Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske) challenging the judgments of the lower courts.
On 14 May 2013 the Supreme Court declared the applicant’s appeal on points of law inadmissible on the grounds that in fact the second-instance court dismissed his appeal on different grounds and that section 373a of the Civil Procedure Act, allowing for an appeal on points of law, was not applicable.
The applicant then lodged a constitutional complaint before the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske) and on 16 October 2013 the Constitutional Court declared it inadmissible as manifestly ill-founded.
The decision of the Constitutional Court was served on the applicant’s representative on 25 October 2013.
B. Relevant domestic law
The relevant provision of the Civil Procedure Act (Zakon o parničnom postupku, Official Gazette nos. 53/1991, 91/1992, 58/1993, 112/1999, 88/2001, 117/2003, 88/2005, 2/2007, 84/2008, 123/2008, 57/2011, 148/2011, 25/2013) provides as follows:
Section 382
“The parties may lodge an appeal on points of law against the second-instance judgment:
...
3) if the second-instance judgment was based on sections 373a and 373b of this Act.
... “
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention that he did not have access to the Supreme Court.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Did the applicant have access to the Supreme Court, as required by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?
The Government are requested to submit two copies of all the relevant documents from the domestic proceedings.
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