CASE OF GIUSEPPE MOSTACCIUOLO v. ITALY (NO. 2)
Preliminary objection dismissed (Article 35-1 - Exhaustion of domestic remedies);Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Civil proceedings;Article 6-1 - Reasonable time);Pecuniary damage - award (Article 41 - Pecuniary damage;Just satisfaction);Non-pecuniary damage - award (Article 41 - Non-pecuniary damage;Just satisfaction)
Christos Rozakis
4. The applicant was born in 1938 and lives in Benevento. 5. On 5 May 1987 Mr F. asked the Benevento District Court to order the applicant to pay him 73,934,495 Italian lire (38,183.98 euros (EUR)) for professional services. On 11 May 1987 the President of the Benevento District Court granted the application. The order was served on the applicant on 20 May 1987. 6. On 8 June 1987 the applicant challenged the order in the Benevento District Court. Preparation of the case for trial began on 24 September 1987. Of the twenty-nine hearings listed between 26 November 1987 and 16 October 1998 seven were adjourned by the court of its own motion, ten were devoted to organising expert evidence and supplementary findings and two were adjourned at the parties' request. 7. On 16 April 1999 the case was referred to the sezioni stralcio. Of the four hearings listed between 22 September 1999 and 8 February 2002 one was adjourned because the parties had not appeared and one was adjourned by the court of its own motion. 8. On 10 January 2002 the applicant lodged an appeal with the Rome Court of Appeal under Law no. 89 of 24 March 2001, known as the “Pinto” Act, complaining of the excessive length of the above-described proceedings. The applicant asked the court to rule that there had been a breach of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and to order the Italian Government to pay compensation for the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage sustained. The applicant claimed, inter alia, EUR 14,460.94 in pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages. 9. In a decision of 21 June 2002, the text of which was deposited with the registry on 2 October 2002, the Court of Appeal found that a reasonable time had been exceeded. It dismissed the claim for pecuniary damages on the ground that the applicant had not provided any proof, awarded him EUR 2,000 on an equitable basis in compensation for non-pecuniary damage, EUR 700 for costs and expenses incurred in the proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights and EUR 900 for the costs and expenses incurred in the Pinto proceedings. 10. That decision was served on the authorities on 23 January 2003 and became binding on 24 March 2003. The applicant served the authorities with notice to comply on 15 October 2003. On 29 October 2003 the applicant lodged an application for seizure with the Rome judge responsible for enforcement proceedings and a hearing was to be held on 28 March 2004. 11. In a letter of 21 January 2003 the applicant informed the Court of the outcome of the domestic proceedings and asked it to resume its examination of his application. 12. The applicant did not indicate that he had appealed to the Court of Cassation.