PROCEDURE

. The case originated in an application (no. 61444/00) 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 Waldemar Krasuski (“the applicant”), on 15 February 2000. 2. The applicant was represented by Mr L. Cyrson, a lawyer practising in Poznań, Poland. The Polish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr J. Wołąsiewicz, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 3. The applicant alleged that he had not had his case heard within a “reasonable time”, as required under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. He also alleged a breach of Article 13 of the Convention in that he had no effective domestic remedy in respect of the excessive length of the proceedings. 4. The application was allocated to the Third Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court). Within that Section, the Chamber that would consider the case (Article 27 § 1 of the Convention) was constituted as provided in Rule 26 § 1. 5. On 1 November 2001 the Court changed the composition of its Sections (Rule 25 § 1). This case was assigned to the newly composed Fourth Section (Rule 52 § 1). 6. By a decision of 18 November 2003 the Court declared the application admissible. 7. The applicant and the Government each filed observations on the merits (Rule 59 § 1). The Chamber decided, after consulting the parties, that no hearing on the merits was required (Rule 59 § 3 in fine). 8. On 21 September 2004 the Chamber invited the parties to submit further observations on the merits of the complaint under Article 13. The Government filed their observations on 23 November and 14 December 2004. The applicants’ representative lodged pleadings on 8 November 2004 and 3 January 2005 respectively. 9. On 2 February 2005 the applicant’s wife, Mrs Józefa Krasuska, informed the Court’s Registry that the applicant had died on 30 December 2004. She stated that she wished to continue the proceedings before the Court in her late husband’s stead.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1934. He died on 30 December 2004. He lived in Zielona Góra, Poland.

In July 1994 the applicant and his wife concluded a contract with E.W. and W.W., the owners of a company W. Under that contract the company was to carry out building work on the applicant’s house. On 24 November 1994 the applicant, considering that the company was in breach of the contract, withdrew from it.

On 1 February 1996 the applicant and his wife (“the plaintiffs”) sued E.W. and W.W. in the Zielona Góra Regional Court (Sąd Wojewódzki), seeking compensation for the serious damage to the house allegedly caused by the defendants.

On 13 March and 27 June 1996 the court held hearings and heard evidence from witnesses.

On 24 July 1996 the court instructed Poznań Technical University (Politechnika Poznańska) to prepare an expert report. The report was submitted to the court on 4 November 1996. The defendants challenged the report on 2 December 1996.

At a hearing on 23 December 1996 the Regional Court ordered the experts to revise their report. On 26 January 1997 they upheld their original conclusions.

On 17 July 1997 the plaintiffs modified their claim.

The court held a hearing on 29 October 1997.

On 31 March 1998 the court ordered the experts to supplement their report.

The parties filed their pleadings in March, April and October 1998.

On 4 November 1998 the court held a hearing. The Government maintained that in the course of the hearing the plaintiffs had modified their claim. The applicant contested this.

On 19 November 1998 the court gave judgment and dismissed the claim. The plaintiffs appealed.

On 18 May 1999 the Poznań Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny) quashed the first-instance judgment and remitted the case to the Regional Court.

On 30 September 1999 the Regional Court held a hearing. It decided to obtain a fresh expert report. In the meantime, the applicant had made two unsuccessful applications for his claim to be secured.

On 20 February 2000 the expert report was submitted to the court.

At the hearing held on 9 May 2000 the court heard evidence from the expert.

The Government submitted that on 16 May 2000 the plaintiffs had altered the amount of the damages they had sought. Subsequently, they applied for an exemption from the court fee due for the increased claim. On 12 October 2000 the court refused their application. That decision was later upheld by the Poznań Court of Appeal. The applicant denied that they had altered their claim.

On 28 February 2001 the plaintiffs again unsuccessfully applied for an exemption from payment of the court fee for the increased claim. Eventually, on 16 March 2001, the particulars of that claim were returned to them on account of their failure to pay the fee.

The Government maintained that at the hearing held on 8 May 2001 the plaintiffs had increased their claim and had stated that they would not seek an exemption from the court fee. However, on 4 June 2001 the particulars of the amended claim were again returned to them on account of their failure to pay the fee in question.

The applicant stated that this was not true. He maintained that, in a pleading of 11 May 2001, after the experts had again revised their valuation of the damage sustained, he had indeed extended the amount of the damages sought to 300,000 Polish zlotys (PLN), mostly because he had been forced to do so by the court. He had also sought an exemption from court fees since to do otherwise would have been illogical.

A hearing scheduled for 12 July 2001 was adjourned at the plaintiffs’ request. A subsequent hearing was held on 6 September 2001.

On 4 October 2001 the court heard evidence from the parties and closed the trial. On 11 October 2001 it gave judgment, awarding the applicant PLN 50,000 plus statutory interest.

On 30 November 2001 the applicant appealed against the judgment. Shortly afterwards, on 10 December 2001, the Regional Court ordered him to rectify the formal shortcomings in his appeal. On 8 January 2002 the applicant applied for an exemption from the court fees for lodging the appeal. The Regional Court rejected his application on 23 January 2002. The applicant unsuccessfully appealed against the refusal; eventually, he paid the court fees on 22 February 2002.

On 20 June 2002 the Poznań Court of Appeal heard, and dismissed, the applicant’s appeal. Since the applicant refrained from lodging a cassation appeal (kasacja) with the Supreme Court, the judgment became final on that day.