PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 72994/01) against the Republic of Poland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Polish national, Ms. H. Baranowska (“the applicant”) on 3 April 2001. The applicant was represented by Ms M. Heller-Kaczmarska, a lawyer practising in Poznań.

The Polish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr J. Wołąsiewicz, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On 7 October 2005 the Court decided to give notice of the application to the Government. Applying Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the application at the same time.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Poznań.

On 12 March 1987 the applicant lodged a motion with the Poznań District Court concerning the inheritance of her mother’s and her father’s estate.

On 25 April 1987 the Poznań District Court ordered two court files from other proceedings to be joined to the case.

On 22 March 1988 the Poznań District Court urged the competent court to submit these files.

On 6 April 1988 the above-mentioned order was complied with.

On 27 June 1988 the first hearing was held. As witnesses had not been summoned properly, the hearing was adjourned.

On 14 September 1989 the second hearing was held. As witnesses had not been called properly the hearing was again adjourned.

On 14 November 1989 the third hearing was held at which it was decided to appoint two experts.

On 8 March 1990 and 6 April 1992 the experts’ opinions were submitted to the court.

On 28 May 1992 the Poznań District Court issued a decision as to the entitlement to the inheritance. It ruled that the applicant was to inherit ¼ of her father’s estate and nothing from her mother’s. On 18 November 1993 the applicant requested the Minister of Justice to lodge an extraordinary appeal as to the part of the judgment concerning her mother’s estate.

On 27 September 1994 the Minister of Justice lodged an extraordinary appeal with the Supreme Court, arguing that the decision of 28 May 1992 was in manifest breach of law.

On 27 October 1994 the Supreme Court partly quashed the contested decision and remitted the case to the Poznań District Court. In the course of the proceedings another expert opinion was admitted.

At the hearing held on 15 February 1995 the court granted the applicant partial exemption from court fees and appointed her a legal-aid lawyer.

Subsequent hearings were held on 19 May 1995, 21 June 1995, 1 September 1995 and 13 September 1995.

On 12 October 1995 the court conducted an inspection of the real estate.

At the hearing held on 3 November 1995 the court decided to impose a fine on a witness who had failed to appear.

A subsequent hearing was held on 6 December 1995.

On 19 January 1996 a hearing was held at which one of the parties did not appear. The court ordered him to submit a medical certificate and to appear at the next hearing.

The hearing held on 21 February 1996 was adjourned due to the absence of other parties to the proceedings. The court ordered them to submit medical certificates and to appear at the next hearing.

At the hearing held on 12 April 1996 one of the parties to the proceedings failed to appear and was ordered to appear at the hearing on pain of omission of her statements.

Another hearing was held on 16 May 1996.

On 21 June 1996 the hearing was adjourned due to the absence of a witness. The court imposed a fine on him.

On 10 July 1996 a hearing had to be adjourned since it appeared that one of the witness’ whereabouts was incorrect. Another party’s lawyer was ordered to submit relevant information within three days on pain of omission of that information as evidence.

The next hearing was held on 2 August 1996.

On 7 January 1997 an expert opinion was ordered. It was submitted on 6 March 1997.

On 11 March 1997 the court ordered a further expert opinion. It was submitted on 20 October 1997.

On 10 December 1997 a hearing was held.

On 30 January 1998 the Poznań District Court issued a decision. It ruled that the applicant was to inherit a part of her mother’s estate. The applicant and another party appealed on 28 April 1998 and 23 June 1998 respectively.

On 28 July 1998 a hearing was held before the appellate court.

On 2 October 1998 the Poznań Regional Court amended the decision, allowing the applicant’s appeal in part. On 23 December 1998 the opponent lodged a cassation appeal.

On 19 October 2000 the Supreme Court gave a judgment dismissing the cassation appeal.

II. RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW AND PRACTICE 0

On 17 September 2004 the Law of 17 June 2004 on complaints about a breach of the right to a trial within a reasonable time (Ustawa o skardze na naruszenie prawa strony do rozpoznania sprawy w postępowaniu sądowym bez nieuzasadnionej zwłoki -“the 2004 Act”) entered into force. It lays down various legal means designed to counteract and/or redress the undue length of judicial proceedings. A party to pending proceedings may ask for the acceleration of those proceedings and/or just satisfaction for their unreasonable length under section 2 read in conjunction with section 5(1) of the 2004 Act.

On 18 January 2005 the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy) adopted a resolution (no. III SPP 113/04) in which it ruled that while the 2004 Law produced legal effects as from the date of its date of entry into force (17 September 2004), its provisions applied retroactively to all proceedings in which delays had occurred before that date but only when they had not before that date but only when they had not yet been remedied.
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e1
001-77651_a4_em1
CODE
DIRECT
72994/01
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
correct
001-77651_a4_e2
001-77651_a4_em2
ORG
NO_MASK
Republic of Poland
ETHNIC
insert
001-77651_a4_e3
001-77651_a4_em3
DEM
NO_MASK
Polish national
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e4
001-77651_a4_em4
PERSON
DIRECT
Ms. H. Baranowska
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e5
001-77651_a4_em5
DATETIME
QUASI
3 April 2001
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e6
001-77651_a4_em6
PERSON
QUASI
Ms M. Heller-Kaczmarska
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
correct
001-77651_a4_e7
001-77651_a4_em7
LOC
QUASI
Poznań
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-77651_a4_e8
001-77651_a4_em8
ORG
NO_MASK
Polish Government
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e9
001-77651_a4_em9
PERSON
NO_MASK
Mr J. Wołąsiewicz
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-77651_a4_e10
001-77651_a4_em10
ORG
NO_MASK
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e11
001-77651_a4_em11
DATETIME
QUASI
7 October 2005
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e12
001-77651_a4_em12
DATETIME
QUASI
1949
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e7
001-77651_a4_em13
LOC
QUASI
Poznań
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e13
001-77651_a4_em14
DATETIME
QUASI
12 March 1987
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e14
001-77651_a4_em15
ORG
NO_MASK
Poznań District Court
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e15
001-77651_a4_em16
DATETIME
QUASI
25 April 1987
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e14
001-77651_a4_em17
ORG
NO_MASK
Poznań District Court
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e16
001-77651_a4_em18
DATETIME
QUASI
22 March 1988
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e14
001-77651_a4_em19
ORG
NO_MASK
Poznań District Court
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e17
001-77651_a4_em20
DATETIME
QUASI
6 April 1988
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e18
001-77651_a4_em21
DATETIME
QUASI
27 June 1988
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e19
001-77651_a4_em22
DATETIME
QUASI
14 September 1989
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e20
001-77651_a4_em23
DATETIME
QUASI
14 November 1989
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e21
001-77651_a4_em24
DATETIME
QUASI
8 March 1990
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e22
001-77651_a4_em25
DATETIME
QUASI
6 April 1992
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e23
001-77651_a4_em26
DATETIME
QUASI
28 May 1992
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e14
001-77651_a4_em27
ORG
NO_MASK
Poznań District Court
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e24
001-77651_a4_em28
QUANTITY
QUASI
¼
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e25
001-77651_a4_em29
DATETIME
QUASI
18 November 1993
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e26
001-77651_a4_em30
ORG
NO_MASK
Minister of Justice
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e27
001-77651_a4_em31
DATETIME
QUASI
27 September 1994
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-77651_a4_e26
001-77651_a4_em32
ORG
NO_MASK
Minister of Justice
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-77651_a4_e28
001-77651_a4_em33
ORG
NO_MASK
Supreme Court
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e23
001-77651_a4_em34
DATETIME
QUASI
28 May 1992
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e29
001-77651_a4_em35
DATETIME
QUASI
27 October 1994
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e28
001-77651_a4_em36
ORG
NO_MASK
Supreme Court
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e14
001-77651_a4_em37
ORG
NO_MASK
Poznań District Court
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e30
001-77651_a4_em38
DATETIME
QUASI
15 February 1995
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e31
001-77651_a4_em39
DATETIME
QUASI
19 May 1995
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e32
001-77651_a4_em40
DATETIME
QUASI
21 June 1995
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e33
001-77651_a4_em41
DATETIME
QUASI
1 September 1995
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e34
001-77651_a4_em42
DATETIME
QUASI
13 September 1995
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e35
001-77651_a4_em43
DATETIME
QUASI
12 October 1995
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e36
001-77651_a4_em44
DATETIME
QUASI
3 November 1995
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e37
001-77651_a4_em45
DATETIME
QUASI
6 December 1995
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e38
001-77651_a4_em46
DATETIME
QUASI
19 January 1996
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e39
001-77651_a4_em47
DATETIME
QUASI
21 February 1996
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e40
001-77651_a4_em48
DATETIME
QUASI
12 April 1996
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e41
001-77651_a4_em49
DATETIME
QUASI
16 May 1996
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e42
001-77651_a4_em50
DATETIME
QUASI
21 June 1996
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e43
001-77651_a4_em51
DATETIME
QUASI
10 July 1996
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e44
001-77651_a4_em52
DATETIME
QUASI
three days
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e45
001-77651_a4_em53
DATETIME
QUASI
2 August 1996
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e46
001-77651_a4_em54
DATETIME
QUASI
7 January 1997
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e47
001-77651_a4_em55
DATETIME
QUASI
6 March 1997
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e48
001-77651_a4_em56
DATETIME
QUASI
11 March 1997
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e49
001-77651_a4_em57
DATETIME
QUASI
20 October 1997
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e50
001-77651_a4_em58
DATETIME
QUASI
10 December 1997
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e51
001-77651_a4_em59
DATETIME
QUASI
30 January 1998
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e14
001-77651_a4_em60
ORG
NO_MASK
Poznań District Court
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e52
001-77651_a4_em61
DATETIME
QUASI
28 April 1998
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e53
001-77651_a4_em62
DATETIME
QUASI
23 June 1998
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e54
001-77651_a4_em63
DATETIME
QUASI
28 July 1998
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e55
001-77651_a4_em64
DATETIME
QUASI
2 October 1998
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e56
001-77651_a4_em65
ORG
NO_MASK
Poznań Regional Court
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e57
001-77651_a4_em66
DATETIME
QUASI
23 December 1998
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e58
001-77651_a4_em67
DATETIME
QUASI
19 October 2000
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e28
001-77651_a4_em68
ORG
NO_MASK
Supreme Court
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e59
001-77651_a4_em69
DATETIME
NO_MASK
17 September 2004
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-77651_a4_e60
001-77651_a4_em70
MISC
NO_MASK
Law of 17 June 2004 on complaints about a breach of the right to a trial within a reasonable time (Ustawa o skardze na naruszenie prawa strony do rozpoznania sprawy w postępowaniu sądowym bez nieuzasadnionej zwłoki -“the 2004 Act”)
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e61
001-77651_a4_em71
DATETIME
QUASI
18 January 2005
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-77651_a4_e62
001-77651_a4_em72
ORG
NO_MASK
Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy)
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e63
001-77651_a4_em73
CODE
NO_MASK
113/04
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-77651_a4_e59
001-77651_a4_em74
DATETIME
NO_MASK
17 September 2004
H. Baranowska
POL
CHAMBER
Task: Annotate the document to anonymise the following person: H. Baranowska