PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 38190/05) 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, Mr Wojciech Figiel (“the applicant”) on 29 January 2005.

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

On 1 September 2006 the President of the Fourth Section of the Court decided to give notice of the application to the Government. Applying Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it was decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the application at the same time.

The Government requested that the present application be joined to application no. 38206/05, which was lodged by the applicant (Figiel v. Poland (no. 2)) and which concerned the length of another and unrelated set of civil proceedings. On 6 May 2008 the President of the Chamber decided not to join the applications.

The Government submitted a unilateral declaration and invited the Court to strike both of the above-mentioned applications out of the list, in accordance with Article 37 of the Convention.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1955 and lives in Warsaw.

A. Civil proceedings for payment

On 25 October 1999 the applicant lodged a civil claim for payment with the Warsaw District Court (Sąd Rejonowy). The applicant requested the court to make an order for payment against his business partner. The value of the claim was 500 zlotys (PLN) (about 150 euros (EUR)). Between 25 October 1999 and 27 October 2004 the court held seven hearings, three of which were postponed for various reasons. At the hearing on 27 October 2004 the parties concluded a friendly settlement. On the same day the Warsaw District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) discontinued the proceedings.

B. Proceedings under the 2004 Act

On 21 September 2004 the applicant lodged a complaint with the Warsaw Regional Court under section 5 of 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”). He sought a ruling that the length of the proceedings before the Warsaw District Court had been excessive and an award of just satisfaction. On 19 October 2004 the Warsaw Regional Court gave a decision in which it acknowledged the excessive length of the proceedings (35 months and 21 days of inactivity on the part of the Warsaw District Court) but refused to grant the applicant any just satisfaction, holding that the applicant had failed to reason his request for just satisfaction and that the proceedings for payment of PLN 500 “were not particularly important for the applicant who is an entrepreneur, because the consequences are not attributable to the excessive length of the proceedings”.

C. Application no. 38206/05

On 29 January 2005 the applicant lodged another application concerning the length of a different set of civil proceedings for payment. These proceedings lasted 5 years and 22 days at two court instances. The applicant made use of the complaint provided for by the 2004 Act and the domestic court acknowledged the excessive length of proceedings (36 months and 7 days of inactivity on the part of the Warsaw District Court) but refused to grant the applicant any just satisfaction.