PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 72161/01) 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, Mr Andrzej Wyszczelski (“the applicant”), on 5 September 2000.

The Polish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agents, Mr K. Drzewicki and subsequently Mr J. Wołąsiewicz of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

On 18 March 2003 the Court decided to communicate the application. 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

THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1941 and lives in Pruszków, Poland.

On 29 June 1993 the applicant lodged a motion with the Warsaw Regional Court (Sąd Wojewódzki) claiming PLZ (old zlotys) 100,000,000 from the insurance company “PZU” as compensation for his traffic accident. He also claimed a supplementary disability pension.

On 14 April 1994 the court ordered an expert opinion. It was submitted to the court in June 1994.

On 15 December 1994 the court ordered the expert to supplement her opinion. On 27 April 1995 the court appointed another expert. On 7 December 1995 the court held a hearing.

At the hearing held on, 23 April 1996 the court stayed the proceedings until the termination of social insurance proceedings instituted by the applicant against the Social Insurance authorities. These proceedings had in fact been terminated by a judgment of the Warsaw Regional Labour Court of 19 March 1996.

On 16 August 1996 the applicant submitted the copy of the judgment of 19 March 1996 to the Warsaw Regional Court and requested the court to resume the compensation proceedings against the insurance company “PZU”.

On 28 November 1996 the court held a hearing and resumed the proceedings.

On 11 March 1997 the applicant modified his claim, having regard to the inflation rate.

The court held further hearings on 13 May 1997, 18 September 1997, 27 November 1997, 2 September 1998, 22 October 1998, 21 October 1999, 9 December 1999, 17 February 2000, 24 October 2000 and 4 December 2000.

The court ordered two further expert opinions in 1997.

On 26 February 1999 the applicant requested the Director of the insurance company to conclude an out-of-court settlement in order to terminate the proceedings. This proposal was refused.

On 5 March 1999 yet another expert opinion was ordered by the court. It was submitted to the court on 9 August 1999. On 17 February 2000 the court requested the experts to supplement their opinion. The supplemented opinion was submitted to the court on 13 May 2000.

On 18 December 2000 the court closed the examination of the case. On 15 January 2001 the Warsaw Regional Court gave judgment and ordered the insurance company to pay PLN 25,000 to the applicant.

The applicant lodged an appeal with the Warsaw Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny), claiming a higher amount of compensation.

On 25 April 2002 the Warsaw Court of Appeal gave judgment. The applicant lodged a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy).

On 21 October 2003 the Supreme Court gave judgment and remitted the case to the Court of Appeal.

On 4 February 2004 the Warsaw Court of Appeal remitted the case to the Regional Court.

On 3 March 2005 the applicant lodged a complaint with the Warsaw Court of Appeal under the Law of 17 June 2004 on complaints about a breach of the right to a trial within a reasonable time (“2004 Act”). On 25 April 2005 the Court of Appeal dismissed it as manifestly ill-founded. The court held that it could only assess the proceedings after the remittal by the Court of Appeal i.e. after 4 February 2004, however, after that date there had not been any significant delays in the proceedings.

In the light of the information available to the Court at the date of the adoption of the present judgment, the proceedings are pending before the Regional Court.