PARTLY DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE MORENILLA

I agree with the majority that the applicant should receive just satisfaction for the continuing denial of access to her property in northern Cyprus and the ensuing loss of all control over it which was imputable to Turkey, as stated by the Court in the principal judgment of 18 December 1996. ( Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996-VI, p. 2236, § 57). I disagree, however, with points 2 and 4 of the operative provisions for the following reasons:

As regards point 2, the majority has unrealistically disregarded the general political situation of the region where the applicant has property when examining her claim for pecuniary damage for the loss of use of the land and the consequent loss of opportunity to develop or lease it during the past eight years, and when making an equitable assessment of this (paragraphs 33 and 34 of this judgment). As the Delegate of the Commission (paragraph 30), I consider that CYP 100,000 would be the appropriate compensation.

As regards point 4, I find excessive the sum of CYP 137,084.83 for costs and expenses awarded to the applicant to be paid by the respondent State. Under Article 50 of the Convention, as interpreted by case-law of the Court (see, the Pine Valley Developments Ltd and Others v. Ireland judgment of 9 February 1993 ( Article 50 ), Series A no. 246-B, p. 89, § 19), the injured party is entitled to recover costs which were necessarily incurred. But in the present case, I do not consider it necessary for the applicant to have been represented before the Commission and the Court by two Cypriot lawyers and a foreign international-law specialist, since, in my view, one lawyer would have sufficed to deal properly with the legal issues involved in this case. I therefore consider that the respondent State should only be held liable to pay one third of this amount.

PARTLY DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE mifsud bonnici

1. I could not vote in favour of granting to the applicant the sum of CYP 137,084.83 for the costs and expenses claimed by her. The sum is equivalent to GBP 185,064.52 at the rate of exchange quoted by the applicant of CYP 1= GBP 1.35.

2. Like the Delegate of the Commission in his oral pleadings before the Court and a minority of my brother judges, I find the claim to be excessive and exaggerated.

3. It is of course clear that the case was complicated and difficult, but, nevertheless, these qualifications do not justify the hefty bill of costs and expenses which was submitted and which, surprisingly, the majority of the Court accepted. The Turkish Government contributed to this result by omitting to make any submissions on the matter. That Government, likewise, did not make any submissions as to the applicant’s calculations of her economic loss (see paragraph 32 of the judgment) but nevertheless the Court cannot for this reason alone accept without question the applicant’s submissions. No doubt the same principle applies to the question of costs and expenses.

4. To illustrate my criticism of the applicant’s claim under this head, I will limit myself to the following details:

(a) According to the bill of costs dated 26 June 1995 the fees for the two Cypriot lawyers engaged in the research, preparation of submissions, as well as submissions in reply and the conduct of the hearing on the merits amounted to GBP 18,900 (CYP 14,000) while those relating to the services of specialist counsel and advocate for research work, a visit to Cyprus for consultations, preparation of submissions in reply and conduct of the hearing on the merits amounted to GBP 35,888 (CYP 29,416) i.e. a total of GBP 54,788 .

(b) For that part of the case which dealt with the preliminary objections, on the same description – the Cypriot lawyers charged GBP 12,150 (CYP 9,000) while the specialist counsel and advocate billed GBP 24,000 (CYP 17,760) – a total of GBP 36,150 .

(c) Lastly, for the third and last stage – that concerning Article 50 – for the preparation of the applicant’s memorial and the oral hearing, the bills amounted to GBP 9,045 (CYP 6,700) and GBP 18,795 (CYP 15,406) a total of GBP 27,840 .

The memorial in question consisted of 22 double-spaced pages, a third of which is devoted to quotations mostly from judgments of the Court.

A grand total of GBP 118,778 in lawyers’ fees is in my opinion excessive and unjustified.

(d) Finally, to illustrate further why I did not vote in favour of awarding the costs and expenses, in full and “ en bloc ”, I noticed that, in connection with her claims under Article 50, the applicant commissioned a valuation report of her property in Cyprus, by a firm of Cypriot valuers . The total cost amounted to CYP 1,734. Their approach set out in this report was not accepted by the Court as it involved a significant degree of speculation and did not make any allowance for the volatility of the property market and its susceptibility to domestic and international influences (paragraph 33). In spite of this, the cost was allowed.