Skorić and Others v. Croatia

FIRST SECTION

Application no. 51544/15 Neli SKORIĆ against Croatia and 3 other applications (see list appended)

The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 3 April 2018 as a Committee composed of:

Aleš Pejchal, President, Krzysztof Wojtyczek, Jovan Ilievski, judges,

and Renata Degener, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,

Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the cases,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix.

The Croatian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms Š. Stažnik.

The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the excessive length of civil proceedings. In the application no. 51544/15 the applicant also complained under Article 13 of the Convention about the ineffectiveness of the domestic length-of-proceedings remedies.

On the dates set out in the appendix, the parties signed friendly settlement declarations, under which each applicant agreed to waive any further claims against Croatia in respect of the facts giving rise to his or her application, subject to an undertaking by the Government to pay them the amounts detailed in the appended table to cover any non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses. These amounts will be converted into Croatian kunas at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. Each sum will be payable within three months from the date of notification the Court’s decision. In the event of failure to pay these amounts within the above-mentioned three-month period, the Government undertake to pay simple interest on each unpaid sum, from the 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 cases.

THE LAW

Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.

The Court takes note of the friendly settlements reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlements are based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the applications. In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.

Done in English and notified in writing on 26 April 2018.

Renata Degener Aleš Pejchal Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

No.

Application no.

Lodged on

Applicant’s name,

date of birth and

place of residence

Type o f the domestic proceedings

Date of the applicant’s friendly-settlement declaration

Date of Government’s friendly-settlement declaration

Friendly settlement sum (in euros)

51544/15

07/10/2015

Neli SKORIĆ

18/12/1960

Zagreb

Inheritance

proceedings

18/12/2017

08/02/2018

2,550

13579/16

04/03/2016

Jelena

JANKOVIĆ

10/09/1953

Civil proceedings

03/01/2018

08/02/2018

5,300

21997/17

16/03/2017

Sara

SREMAC

02/05/1990

Civil proceedings

22/12/2017

08/02/2018

5,050

35105/17

10/05/2017

Ivica

ŠOŠTARIĆ

11/08/1955

Enforcement proceedings

19/01/2018

08/02/2018

1,600