4.  The applicant was born in 1939 and lives in Vienna. He is a former lawyer who was admitted to the bar in 1969.
5.  On 26 January 1999 the applicant renounced his right to practise as a lawyer because he had, as a result of his gambling addiction, committed criminal offences. On 28 June 1999 the applicant was convicted of aggravated fraud and embezzlement and sentenced to seven and a half years’ imprisonment.
6.  On 4 November 1999 the applicant applied to the Committee of the Vienna Bar Association (Ausschuss der Rechtsanwaltskammer; hereinafter, “the Committee”) for an invalidity pension. He argued that due to his gambling addiction – a recognised mental illness – he was no longer capable of practising as a lawyer.
7.  On 7 March 2001 the applicant requested the Committee to inform him why it had still not decided on his application, despite his repeated requests. On 22 June 2001 the applicant was interviewed by a medical expert, who submitted his report on 20 July 2001.
8.  On 5 February 2002 the competent division of the Committee (hereinafter, “the Committee’s division”) partly rejected as being lodged out of time and partly dismissed on the merits the applicant’s application for an invalidity pension.
9.  On 8 March 2002 the applicant filed an objection (Vorstellung) against that decision.  On 30 April 2002 the Plenary of the Committee (hereinafter, “the Plenary”) dismissed the objection.
10.  On 17 June 2002 the applicant complained to the Administrative Court about the Plenary’s decision. On 20 October 2005 the Administrative Court quashed the Plenary’s decision as unlawful.
11.  On 14 June 2007, under Article 132 of the Federal Constitution (Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz), the applicant complained to the Administrative Court about the Plenary’s failure to decide (Säumnisbeschwerde). The applicant claimed that he had submitted a privately commissioned expert report on 30 March 2006 and requested a decision, but that the Plenary still had not taken any procedural steps.
12.  On 4 July 2007 the Administrative Court requested the Plenary, within three months, either to issue a decision or explain why it had not yet done so. On 13 October 2007 an expert appointed by the Plenary submitted a report. On 16 October 2007 the Administrative Court, at the Plenary’s request, extended the time-limit for a decision until 20 January 2008.
13.  On 18 January 2008 the applicant requested the Administrative Court to decide on the merits, claiming that the Plenary still had not issued a decision. In addition, it had appointed another expert only at the end of the extended time-limit. Subsequently, the Administrative Court was informed by the head of the Bar Association that the expert opinion had arrived but that it required supplementation, and that a decision would be issued within one month. On 25 January 2008 the expert submitted his report and on 11 February 2008 he submitted a supplementary report.
14.  On 8 April 2008 the Committee’s division dismissed the applicant’s application for an invalidity pension. Consequently, on 26 June 2008 the Administrative Court closed the proceedings regarding the applicant’s complaint of 14 June 2007 about the Plenary’s failure to decide (see paragraph 11 above), and awarded costs to the applicant.
15.  On 21 April 2008 the applicant filed an objection against the Committee’s division’s decision of 8 April 2008. On 15 July 2008 the Plenary granted the objection and referred the case back to the Committee’s division.
16.  On 20 October 2008 the applicant complained to the Administrative Court about the Plenary’s decision.  On 17 December 2009 the Administrative Court quashed the Plenary’s decision, holding that the Committee’s division had not been competent to issue its decision of 8 April 2008 (see paragraph 14 above), as the case had been pending before the Plenary after the Administrative Court had quashed the latter’s decision of 30 April 2002 (see paragraph 10 above). Therefore, the Plenary should have quashed the Committee’s division’s decision of 8 April 2008 and decided on the merits itself.
17.  On 15 July 2010, under Article 132 of the Federal Constitution, the applicant complained to the Administrative Court about the Plenary’s failure to decide. Two days earlier, on 13 July 2010, in a decision received by the applicant on 20 July 2010, the Plenary quashed the Committee’s division’s decision of 8 April 2008 (see paragraph 14 above) and dismissed the applicant’s objection against the Committee’s division’s decision of 5 February 2002 (see paragraph 9 above), confirming that the applicant was not entitled to an invalidity pension. Consequently, on 22 February 2012 the Administrative Court closed the proceedings regarding the applicant’s complaint of 15 July 2010 about the Plenary’s failure to decide, and awarded costs to the applicant.
18.  On 24 August 2010 the applicant complained to the Administrative Court about the Plenary’s decision of 13 July 2010. On 22 February 2012 the Administrative Court dismissed the complaint as unfounded.
19.  That decision was served on the applicant on 5 March 2012.