4.  The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Mykolayivka. 5.  On 10 September 1993 the applicant’s husband was killed in a traffic accident. 6.  On 5 June 2000 the applicant instituted proceedings in the Slavyansk Court against the companies D. and Y. seeking compensation for damage caused by the death of her husband. 7.  On 6 December 2000 the court rejected the applicant’s claims. 8.  On 8 February 2001 the Donetsk Regional Court quashed that judgment and remitted the case to the first instance court for fresh consideration. 9.  On 16 June 2004 the court found in part for the applicant. 10.  On 21 October 2004 the Donetsk Regional Court of Appeal upheld that judgment. 11.  On 19 November 2004 the applicant appealed in cassation. 12.  On 28 April 2007 the Supreme Court transferred the applicant’s appeal in cassation to the Kyiv Court of Appeal for consideration pursuant to legislative amendments of 22 February 2007 aimed at accelerating cassation proceedings. 13.  On 14 August 2007 the Kyiv Court of Appeal scheduled a hearing in the case. 14.  On 28 August 2007 the Kyiv Court of Appeal quashed the judgments in the case and rejected the applicant’s claims as lodged out of time. 15.  According to the Government, out of thirty court hearings scheduled in the applicant’s case two were adjourned due to the applicant’s failure to appear, seventeen were adjourned due to failure to appear of the respondents’ representatives, two were adjourned due to witnesses’ failure to appear, one hearing was adjourned due to illness of the court’s secretary, one hearing was adjourned due to the judge’s illness, two hearings were adjourned due to the judge’s vacations, one hearing was adjourned due to the expiration of the judge’s term of office. On five occasions the courts sent warnings to the companies D. and Y. concerning their representatives’ failure to appear at the court hearings. 16.  The applicant disagreed in part with the Government’s submissions. In particular, she contended that the court hearings in her case had been adjourned only due to the respondents’ failure to appear.