FOURTH SECTION

FINAL DECISION

AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF

Application no. 35656/97 by Jadwiga HULEWICZ against Poland

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section) , sitting on 12 November 2002 as a Chamber composed of

Sir Nicolas Bratza , President , Mr M. Pellonpää , Mr A. Pastor Ridruejo , Mrs V. Strážnická , Mr R. Maruste , Mr S. Pavlovschi , Mr L. Garlicki , judges , and Mr M. O’Boyle , Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights on 10 June 1996,

Having regard to Article 5 § 2 of Protocol No. 11 to the Convention, by which competence to examine the application was transferred to the Court,

Having regard to the partial decision of 6 July 2000,

Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicant,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Jadwiga Hulewicz, is a Polish national, who was born in 1952 and lives in Lębork, Poland . She is represented before the Court by Mrs M. Zawitkowska, a lawyer practising in Słupsk , Poland.

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

On 23 May 1990 the applicant acquired a right to a long-term lease of a flat ( spółdzielcze lokatorskie prawo do lokalu ) in a building owned by the Lębork Housing Co-operative ( Spółdzielnia Mieszkaniowa ). The applicant was (and still is) a member of the co-operative.

Since the co-operative had obtained a mortgage loan for the construction of the building, the relevant lease contracts stipulated that members of the co-operative pay off a certain part of the mortgage in monthly instalments.

On 22 July 1993 the co-operative sued the applicant in the Lębork District Court ( Sąd Rejonowy ), seeking payment. It alleged that she had not made the required payments.

On 25 October 1993 the court granted the claim but ruled that the payment be made in instalments. The applicant appealed against this judgment , arguing that the instalments had incorrectly been calculated.

On 19 January 1994 the Słupsk Regional Court ( Sąd Wojewódzki ) amended the first-instance judgment , i.e., it reduced the number of instalments and the amount of the last instalment. It upheld the remainder of the judgment .

Subsequently, the applicant twice requested the Minister of Justice to grant her leave to file an extraordinary appeal with the Supreme Court ( Sąd Najwyższy ). Her first request was rejected on 10 October 1994.

On 25 March 1995 the applicant requested the Slupsk Regional Court to reopen the proceedings. On 17 July 1995 the court rejected her request.

On 1 July 1996 the Law of 1 March 1996 on Amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure and Other Statutes entered into force. On that date the provisions relating to an extraordinary appeal were repealed and this remedy was replaced by a cassation appeal which, without any prior leave being given by the Minister, could be lodged by a party itself. However, under transitional provisions, the Minister of Justice retained his right to lodge a cassation appeal on behalf of a party to civil proceedings.

On 31 January 1997 the Minister of Justice filed a cassation appeal on the applicant’s behalf, contesting the judgment of the Słupsk Regional Court of 19 January 1994.

On 29 April 1997 the Supreme Court quashed both judgments given in the applicant’s case and remitted the case to the court of first instance. The Supreme Court found that the lower courts committed serious errors of fact and law.

On 28 October 1997 the Lębork District Court joined the applicant’s case with similar proceedings against seven other members of the co-operative.

On 19 March 1998 the court held a hearing.

On 8 May 1998 the court decided to obtain an expert evidence from the accountant.

On 9 June 1998 the court exempted the applicant from half payment of the court fees. The applicant appealed. On 29 December 1998 the SÅ‚upsk Regional Court rejected his appeal.

On 29 February 2000 the trial court ordered that expert opinion be obtained. On 19 May 2000 the opinion was prepared by certain B.T.

On 4 October 2000 the applicant challenged the expert opinion of 19 May 2000.

On 5 October 2000 the court held a hearing.

The court listed the next hearing for 17 October 2000.

On 1 March 2002 the court gave judgment . The applicant appealed against this judgment .

The proceedings are pending.

THE LAW

The applicant’s complaint relates to the length of the proceedings, which began on 22 July 1993 before the Lebork District Court. On 19 January 1994 the Słupsk Regional Court gave final judgment . On 31 January 1997 the Minister of Justice filed a cassation appeal on the applicant’s behalf. On 29 April 1997 the Supreme Court quashed the judgment and remitted the case for re-examination. The proceedings are still pending. The Court considers that in these circumstances, the starting point for determining the length of the proceedings is the date of filing of the cassation appeal on 31 January 1997. They have therefore already lasted [5 years, 7 months and 2 weeks].

According to the applicant, the length of the proceedings is in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement laid down in Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. The Government reject the allegation.

The Court considers, in the light of the criteria established in its case-law on the question of “reasonable time” (the complexity of the case, the applicant’s conduct and that of the competent authorities), and having regard to all the information in its possession, that an examination of the merits of this complaint is required.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Declares the application admissible, without prejudging the merits of the case.

Michael O’Boyle Nicolas Bratza Registrar President