CASE OF ALVES v. PORTUGAL
Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Civil proceedings;Article 6-1 - Reasonable time)
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska;Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque;Ksenija Turković
5. The applicant was born in 1953, in Slovenia, and lives in Braga, Portugal. 6. On 22 November 2006 the applicant brought a liability action (ação de responsabilidade civil) in the Braga Court against F., a lawyer who had acted as her legal representative in previous proceedings, claiming damages for professional negligence. 7. On 12 December 2006 F. was notified of the action. On 25 January 2007 he lodged his submissions in reply (contestação) and requested the intervention of his insurance company to which he had transferred his responsibility for the acts committed by him in his capacity as lawyer. 8. On 8 March 2007 the applicant lodged new submissions in reply (réplica). 9. By a Braga Court’s decision of 11 July 2007 the intervention of the insurance company in the proceedings was accepted. The company was summoned on an unknown date. On 14 September 2007 it lodged its submissions, to which the applicant replied on 11 October 2007. 10. Between January and April 2008 the parties disputed the applicant’s legal capacity to be a party to the proceedings (capacidade judiciária). 11. On 28 April 2008 the judge gave directions (despacho saneador) absolving F. of the proceedings (absolvição do réu da instância) on the grounds of the applicant’s lack of legal capacity. 12. On an unknown date the applicant appealed against that decision to the Guimarães Court of Appeal (Tribunal da Relação). By a decision of 4 December 2008 the Court of Appeal considered that the applicant had legal capacity and ordered the re-analysis of the case at first instance. In February 2009, the proceedings were allocated to the Braga Court. 13. On 29 April 2009 the judge gave directions setting out the matters that had already been established and those that remained outstanding. 14. Between 28 May and 6 November 2009 the parties lodged, in total, three requests to which the judge promptly replied in less than one month. 15. On an unknown date the case was set down for hearing on 10 March 2010. The hearing was later adjourned to 15 June 2010. A second hearing took place on 7 October 2010. 16. On 29 October 2010 the Braga Court partially found in favour of the applicant. 17. The parties appealed against the decision to the Guimarães Court of Appeal, which dismissed the appeals on 20 October 2011. 18. The parties challenged the Court of Appeal’s decision before the Supreme Court. 19. On 29 May 2012 the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals.