FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 34710/13
Maria VIEIRA SOARES and others
against Portugal
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 10 March 2015 as a Committee composed of:
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska, President,
Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque,
Ksenija Turković, judges,
and André Wampach, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 21 May 2013,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicants are all Portuguese nationals. They were represented before the Court by Ms. M. A. Noronha da Costa Fernandes, a lawyer practising in Santa Maria da Feira. A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix.
The Portuguese Government (“the Government”) was represented by their Agent, Mrs M. F. da Graça Carvalho, Deputy Attorney-General.
The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of civil proceedings before the Santa Maria da Feira Court to which they were a party.
On 9 December 2014 and 19 January 2015 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Portugal in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay them the sums set in the appendix to cover any non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. They will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court. 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 the 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. 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 in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.
Done in English and notified in writing on 2 April 2015.
André WampachMirjana Lazarova Trajkovska
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Appendix
Friendly settlement sums
Name of the applicants
Date of birth
Place of residence
Non-pecuniary damage
in euros (EUR)
Costs and expenses
in euros (EUR)
1.
Maria Vieira Soares
17/08/1946
Santa Maria da Feira
EUR 11.700
EUR 1.000
jointly
2.
3.
Maria Justina Henriques Bernardes
27/09/1941
Santa Maria da Feira
Ernesto Ferreira de Barros
26/05/1940
Santa Maria da Feira
EUR 11.700
jointly
4.
5.
Alzira Brandão
26/06/1920
Santa Maria da Feira
António Correia Marques
20/03/1918
Santa Maria da Feira
EUR 10.400
jointly
6.
Avelino António de Sousa Vieira
08/09/1942
Santa Maria da Feira
EUR 10.400
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