Communicated on 30 June 2014

FIRST SECTION

Application no. 32486/14 Miroslav SAMARDŽIĆ against Croatia lodged on 15 April 2014

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicant, Mr Miroslav Samardžić , is a Croatian national, who was born in 1955 and lives in Pula . He is represented before the Court by Mr M. Ilić , a lawyer practising in Pula .

A. The circumstances of the case

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

On 26 June 2004 the applicant lodged a civil action against company T. in the Pula Municipal Court ( Op ć inski sud u Puli ) claiming damages related to his previous employment with that company.

On 20 February 2008 the Pula Municipal Court dismissed the applicant ’ s civil action as ill-founded.

Against the first-instance judgment the applicant lodged an appeal with the Pula County Court ( Ž upanijski sud u Puli ) alleging numerous substantive and procedural flaws.

On 12 September 2011 the Pula County Court, relying on section 373a of the Civil Procedure Act , dismissed the applicant ’ s appeal. It agreed with the outcome of the case but held that the first-instance court misinterpreted some relevant facts.

On 5 December 2011 the applicant lodged an appeal on points of law before the Supreme Court ( Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske ) challenging the judgments of the lower courts.

On 14 May 2013 the Supreme Court declared the applicant ’ s appeal on points of law inadmissible on the grounds that in fact the second-instance court dismissed his appeal on different grounds and that section 373a of the Civil Procedure Act , allowing for an appeal on points of law, was not applicable.

The applicant then lodged a constitutional complaint before the Constitutional Court ( Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske ) and on 16 October 2013 the Constitutional Court declared it inadmissible as manifestly ill-founded.

The decision of the Constitutional Court was served on the applicant ’ s representative on 25 October 2013.

B. Relevant domestic law

The relevant provision of the Civil Procedure Act ( Zakon o parničnom postupku , Official Gazette nos. 53/1991, 91/1992, 58/1993, 112/1999, 88/2001, 117/2003, 88/2005, 2/2007, 84/2008, 123/2008 , 57/2011, 148/2011, 25/2013 ) provides as follows:

Section 382

“The parties may lodge an appeal on points of law against the second-instance judgment:

...

3) if the second-instance judgment was based on sections 373a and 373b of this Act.

... “

COMPLAINT

The applicant complains under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention that he did not have access to the Supreme Court .

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Did the applicant have access to the Supreme Court, as required by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?

The Government are requested to submit two copies of all the relevant documents from the domestic proceedings.