Published on 18 October 2021
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 3195/21
David TONNA and Others
against Malta
lodged on 7 January 2021
communicated on 29 September 2021
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The applicants (or their ancestors) were the owners of a plot of land which was expropriated by declarations of the President of Malta published between 1974 and 1975. In 2006, the applicants (or their ancestors) brought constitutional redress proceedings complaining that compensation proceedings had not been instituted by the authorities over two decades after the taking of their property. By an appeal judgment of 3 March 2011, the Constitutional Court concluded that there had been a violation of their property rights resulting from the prolonged inaction of the authorities in instituting compensation proceedings, thereby awarding EUR 25,000 in non-pecuniary damage. In the meantime, in 2008, the Commissioner for Lands determined the expropriation compensation at EUR 31,446. The applicants (or their ancestors) challenged the valuation of their land before the domestic courts. By a decision of 8 June 2016, the Land Arbitration Board (hereafter the “LAB”) established the amount of compensation due at EUR 304,655 considering that only part of the expropriated land was developable according to the criteria set out in the law. On 9 July 2020, the Court of Appeal upheld the LAB’s decision.
The applicants complain under Articles 6 and 13 of the Convention that they had not been compensated for the expropriation within a reasonable time.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Given the length of the proceedings to determine the compensation for the expropriation of the applicants’ land, was their right to have proceedings heard within a “reasonable time”, under Article 6 § 1 respected?
2. Did the applicants have an effective remedy as provided under Article 13 to complain about the length of their compensation proceedings?
APPENDIX
No.
Applicant’s Name
Year of birth
Nationality
Place of residence
1.
David TONNA
1956
Maltese
Attard
2.
Corinne CAUCHI
1948
Maltese
Tas-Sliema
3.
Bernarda CUSCHIERI
1961
Maltese
Tas-Sliema
4.
Anthony Marcel DIACONO
1952
Maltese
Ta’ Paris, Birkirkara
5.
Margaret DIACONO
1947
Maltese
San Ġiljan
6.
Martin DIACONO
1945
Maltese
Tas-Sliema
7.
Victor Anthony DIACONO
1958
Maltese
San Gwann
8.
Paul DISTEFANO
1967
Maltese
Tas-Sliema
9.
Victor DISTEFANO
1958
Maltese
Santa Venera
10.
Maria Dolores (Doris) FALZON
1949
Maltese
Encounter Bay
11.
Vivien GALEA DEBONO
1945
Maltese
Swieqi
12.
Godfrey GILMOUR
1944
Australian
and Maltese
Queensland
13.
Doreen MUSCAT
1968
Maltese
Tarxien
14.
Josephine PERSIANO-DISTEFANO
1963
Maltese
Tas-Sliema
15.
Anne Marie TONNA
1945
Maltese
Tas-Sliema
16.
Brian TONNA
1964
Maltese
Marsaskala
17.
Emanuel TONNA
1946
Maltese
Hayborough
18.
Godwin TONNA
1961
Maltese
Gwardamangia, Pietà
19.
Peter TONNA
1966
Maltese
Santa Luċija
20.
Therese TONNA
1938
Maltese
Santa Luċija
21.
Victoria TONNA
1944
Maltese
Tarxien
22.
Rose VASSALLO
1957
Maltese
Tas-Sliema
23.
Marie Concetta Sive Rhoda WILES
1941
Maltese
Winchester Hants