FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 14499/06
by Ivan VUIĆ
against Croatia
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 6 March 2008 as a Chamber composed of:
Christos Rozakis, President,
Nina Vajić,
Anatoly Kovler,
Elisabeth Steiner,
Khanlar Hajiyev,
Giorgio Malinverni,
George Nicolaou, judges,
and Søren Nielsen, Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 29 March 2006,
Having regard to the decision to apply Article 29 § 3 of the Convention and examine the admissibility and merits of the case together,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicant, Mr Ivan Vuić, is a Croatian national who was born in 1948 and lives in Županja. He was represented before the Court by Mr D. Štivić, a lawyer practising in Vukovar. The Croatian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs Š. Stažnik.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
The applicant was employed with the company S. until 2 September 1996, when he was dismissed.
On 31 July 1999 he brought a civil action against his former employer with the Županja Municipal Court (Općinski sud u Županji) seeking payment of some employment-related benefits. On 28 August 2000 bankruptcy proceedings were opened against the company and the applicant’s proceedings were stayed. On 4 October 2001 the case was transferred to the Osijek Commercial Court (Trgovački sud u Osijeku).
After several remittals, on 28 November 2006 the Osijek Commercial Court ruled for the applicant in part. On 27 March 2007 the High Commercial Court (Visoki trgovački sud) dismissed the respondent’s appeal and upheld the first-instance judgment, which thereby became final.
On 20 October 2004 the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint about the length of the above proceedings. On 2 March 2006 the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske) dismissed his complaint.
COMPLAINT
The applicant complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of the above civil proceedings.
THE LAW
By letter of 12 October 2007 the applicant’s representative informed the Court that he accepted a proposal for a friendly settlement and waived any further claims against Croatia in respect of the facts of the present application.
On 6 December 2007 the Government informed the Court that the parties had reached a settlement whereby the Government would pay the applicant 4,500 euros in full and final settlement of the case, costs and expenses included.
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 (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention). In view of the above, it is appropriate to discontinue the application of Article 29 § 3 and 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.
Søren NielsenChristos Rozakis
RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy