PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 39958/02) 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 Dariusz Piątkiewicz (“the applicant”), on 14 June 2000.

The Polish 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 communicate the application to the Government. Under the provisions of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it was decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Łódź.

1. Main proceedings - civil proceedings for payment

On 22 May 1991 the applicant filed a claim for payment against his former employer with the Łódź Regional Court (Sąd Wojewódzki). On 2 December 1991 the court gave judgment. Upon the applicant's appeal the Łódź Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacjny) remitted the case on 22 April 1992.

On 19 August 1993 the Regional Court held the first hearing in the case. Subsequently, hearings were held on 19 October 1993, 10 March and 26 April 1994.

In 1995 the court held two hearings, on 14 February and 13 June, and ordered the preparation of an expert opinion.

On 15 March 1996 the Łódź Regional Court gave a preliminary judgment.

On 14 August 1996 the Łódź Court of Appeal quashed the judgment and remitted the case.

On 16 June and 14 October 1997 the Regional Court held further hearings. On 28 October 1997 the Łódź Regional Court gave judgment. It was upheld by the Łódź Court of Appeal on 10 March 1998.

On 9 June 1998 the applicant lodged a cassation appeal. On 16 December 1999 the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy) held one hearing and gave judgment in which it dismissed the cassation appeal.

2. Proceedings under the 2004 Act

On 16 March 2005 the applicant lodged a complaint under section 18 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”). On 10 May 2005 the Łódź Court of Appeal rejected the appeal as it was inadmissible in law.

On 13 June 2005 the applicant lodged a claim for damages under section 16 of the 2004 Act read in conjunction with Article 417 of the Civil Code. He sought compensation for the alleged mistakes in the examination of his claims and for the protracted length of the proceedings. On 30 September 2005 the Łódź Regional Court dismissed the claim. His appeal against the judgment was dismissed by the Łódź Court of Appeal on 18 May 2006. The applicant submitted that he had not lodged a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court. The Government maintained that such an appeal was pending before the Supreme Court.

3. Proceedings for reinstatement

In his letter of 30 March 2003 the applicant submitted additional complaints about another set of civil proceedings for reinstatement.

On 29 June 1999 the applicant appealed to the Olsztyn District Court against a decision to dismiss him from work.

On 19 October 2000 the Olsztyn District Court gave judgment. On 15 January 2001 the Olsztyn Regional Court upheld the first-instance judgment. The applicant filed a cassation appeal. On 27 February 2002 the Supreme Court rejected the applicant's cassation appeal for failure to comply with procedural requirements.