FIRST SECTION

DECISION

Application no . 20186/13 Maria Cidália RODRIGUES DE FREITAS and others against Portugal

The European Court of Human Rights ( First Section ), sitting on 7 April 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 15 March 2013 ,

Having regard to the declaration submitted by the respondent Government on 7 October 2014 requesting the Court to strike the application out of the list of cases and the applicants ’ reply to that declaration,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix. They were represented before the Court by Ms A. Gon ç alves , a lawyer practising in Leiria .

The Portuguese Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs M. F. da Gra ç a Carvalho , Deputy Attorney-General .

The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of civil proceedings to which they were a party .

The application was communicated to the Government.

After unsuccessful friendly-settlement negotiations, by letter dated 7 October 2014 the Government informed the Court that they proposed to make a declaration with a view to resolving the issues raised by the application.

They acknowledged a violation of the applicant s ’ rights guaranteed by Article 6 § 1 of the Con vention. They undertook to pay each applicant EUR 13,000 (thirteen thousand euros) to cover any non-pecuniary damage and to jointly pay them EUR 1,000 (one thousand euros) to cover costs and expenses, which will be free of any taxes that may be applicable . These sums 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 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. They further requested the Court to strike out the application.

On 12 February 2015 , the Court received a letter from the applicant s informing the Court that they had agreed to the terms of the Government ’ s declaration.

THE LAW

The Court finds that following the applicants ’ express agreement to the terms of the declaration made by the Government the case should be treated as a friendly settlement between the parties.

It therefore 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 pursuant to Article 39 of the Convention.

Done in English and notified in writing on 30 April 2015 .

André Wampach Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska Deputy Registrar President

Appendix

N o .

First name LAST NAME

Birth date

Place of residence

Maria Cidália RODRIGUES DE FREITAS

09/12/1962

Funchal, Madeira

Assunção DE N Ó BREGA GOUVEIA

15/08/1952

Cani ç o , Madeira

Teresa Sofia NÓBREGA GOUVEIA

15/10/1976

Cani ç o , Madeira