FOURTH SECTION

FINAL DECISION

Application no. 9359/03 by Aleksander WR Ó BLEWSKI against Poland

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 12 April 2007 as a Chamber composed of:

Sir Nicolas Bratza , President , Mr J. Casadevall , Mr G. Bonello , Mr K. Traja , Mr S. Pavlovschi , Mr L. Garlicki , Ms L. Mijović , judges , and Mr T.L. Early , Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 2 March 2003 ,

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 Aleksander Wró blewski , is a Polish national who was born in 1937 and lives in Ruda-Huta . The respondent Government are represented by their Agent, Mr J. Woł ą siewicz of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A. The circumstances of the case

The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties , may be summarised as follows.

On 25 May 1999 the applicant filed an action with the Warsaw Regional Court against a housing co-operative for reimbursement of a down - payment he had made in 1984. The applicant was exempted from court fees and was granted legal aid.

On 3 January 2000 a first hearing was held and the applicant submitted documents in support of his claim.

During a second hearing on 19 June 2000 the court asked the applicant to submit another document and stayed the proceedings. The applicant obtained the required document in A ugust, but apparently his legal- aid lawyer failed to submit it to the court and to request that the proceedings be resumed .

The applicant discharged the lawyer and on 19 February 2001 he submitted the relevant document to the court and requested it to resume the proceedings.

On 11 July 2001 he complained to the President of the Warsaw Regional Court that the proceedings had not been resumed.

On 8 March 2002 the Regio nal Bar appointed another legal- aid lawyer for the applicant.

On 2 April 2003 the proceedings were resumed.

On 28 June 2004 the Regional Court delivered a judgment, finding in the applicant ’ s favour and awarding him PLN 84 , 310, representing the amount the applicant had paid in 1984 re-assessed so as to take account of inflation. The defendant co-operative appealed.

On 20 January 2005 the applicant asked the Court of Appeal to accelerate the examination of the appeal.

On 4 August 2005 the Warsaw Court of Appeal amended the judgment by reducing the award to PLN 42,155. The court found that the responsibility of the co-operative was indisputable. However, in the court ’ s view, the defendant co-operative should not be required to pay the whole amount . The court considered that a housing co-operative was an entity of a particular character, in that it consisted of the residents of apartments managed by the co-operative . Accordingly, all liabilities of the co-operative in fact encumbered its members. The court noted that the co-operative ’ s management could not have lawfully returned the down - paym ent to the applicant before he had officially resigned from membership of the co-operative . He had done so in 2000, only after having been informed by the Regional Court that he had to . Therefore, the Court of Appeal considered that the interest s of both parties should be balanced against each other and that the consequences of inflation should encumber the applicant and the co-operative in equal measure . Hence, it reduced the amount of the award.

A cassation appeal was not available since the amended provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure which had entered into force on 5 February 2005 increased the financial threshold for appeals to the Supreme Court in cases concerning non-commercial pecuniary claims from PLN 10,000 to PLN 50,000.

On 23 October 2004 the applicant lodged a complaint with the Warsaw Court of Appeal under the Law of 17 June 2004 on complaints about a breach of the right to a trial within a reasonable time ( Ustawa o skardze na naruszenie prawa strony do rozpoznania sprawy w postÿpowaniu sÿdowym bez nieuzasadnionej zwÿoki ) (“the 2004 Act”) .

On 29 December 2004 the court confirmed that the p roceedings had indeed been lengthy. The court took into consideration the fact that the proceedings had been stayed for almost three years, despite the applicant ’ s repeated requests to resume them. The court also found that the decision to stay the proceedings had not been justified and lacked a legal basis. Further, although the lower court had taken some procedural steps , which were in any event in breach of relevant provisions, the se had not led to any tangible progress in the case . The court considered that in the circumstances of the case an award of PLN 2,000 would be adequate.

COMPLAINTS

The applicant complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the excessive length of the proceedings in his case.

THE LAW

On 29 August 2006 the Court decided to communicate the complaint to the Government.

On 29 November 200 6 the Court received the following declaration from the Government:

“I, Jakub Wołąsiewicz , Agent of the Government, declare that the Government of Poland offer to pay 8,000 PLN to M r Aleksander Wróblewski with a view to securing a friendly settlement of the above-mentioned case pending before the European Court of Human Rights.

This sum, which is to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, will be free of any taxes that may be applicable and payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the event of failure to pay this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertake to pay simple interest on it, from 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.”

On 4 January 200 7 the Court received the following declaration signed by the applicant:

“I, Aleksander Wróblewski , the applicant, note that the Government of Poland are prepared to pay me the sum of 8,000 PLN with a view to securing a friendly settlement of the above-mentioned case pending before the European Court of Human Rights.

This sum, which is to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, will be free of any taxes that may be applicable and payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. From the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amount at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.

I accept the proposal and waive any further claims against Poland in respect of the facts of this application. I declare that this constitutes a final resolution of the case.”

The Court takes note of the agreement reached between the parties (Article 39 of the Convention). It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention or its Protocols (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention and Rule 62 § 3 of the Rules of Court).

Accordingly, Article 29 § 3 of the Convention should no longer apply to the case and it sh ould be struck out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.

T. L . Early Nicolas Bratza Registrar President