4.  The applicant was born in 1946 and lives in Poznań, Poland. 5.  On 27 June 1987 the applicant lodged a claim for payment against a certain M.R. with the Poznań District Court (Sąd Rejonowy). 6.  The court held a number of hearings and ordered on four occasions that expert evidence be obtained. Expert reports were amended several times. 7.  On 18 November 1993 the District Court found that it was not competent to deal with the case and referred it to the Poznań Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy). 8.  The Regional Court held the first hearing on 18 April 1995. 9.  On 27 June 1995 the court ordered that an additional expert opinion be obtained. The expert submitted his report on 15 April 1996. It was subsequently modified several times at the court’s request. 10.  The Regional Court scheduled 12 hearings. Several of them were adjourned because the parties or expert witnesses had failed to appear. 11.  On 23 December 1999 the court partly granted the claim. 12.  On 31 August 2000 the Poznań Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny) amended the first-instance judgment. 13.  On 29 November 2000 the Court of Appeal rejected the applicant’s cassation appeal. The court found that the applicant had failed to indicate the grounds for lodging it. 14.  On 26 April 2001 the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy) dismissed the applicant’s appeal against that decision.