CASE OF MALMBERG AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Civil proceedings;Article 6-1 - Fair hearing)
Dmitry Dedov;Erik Møse;Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre;Khanlar Hajiyev;Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska;Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque;Ksenija Turković
5. The applicant was born in 1957 and lives in St Petersburg. 6. She had a dispute with private individuals over a contract of sale for a flat, concluded in 1998, in which the applicant was the purchaser. According to the contract, she was to pay the equivalent of 26,500 US dollars (USD) in two instalments: half of the price on signing the contract, and the rest before 2 January 1999. The sellers were to vacate the flat before the same date. The applicant paid a sum equal to USD 13,250 on signing the contract and a further sum equal to USD 6,155 in 2001, but never paid the remaining sum. The sellers were evicted from the flat in 2004. The applicant claimed interest on the amounts paid by her for the period up to the time at which she had taken possession of the flat. 7. At a public hearing on 17 March 2004, in the presence of the applicant’s representative and the defendants, the Vasileostrovskiy District Court of St Petersburg partially found for the applicant, awarding her interest on the amount of USD 13,250 at an annual rate of 12% for the period from 2 January 1999 until the day on which she had taken possession of the flat, and dismissed the remainder of her claims. It read out the operative part of its judgment. 8. At a public hearing on 21 December 2004 the St Petersburg City Court examined the case on appeal in the presence of the applicant’s representative and the defendants. It quashed the part of the judgment in which the District Court had found for the applicant, and dismissed the applicant’s claims in view of her own failure to pay the price of the flat in full. It upheld the remainder of the judgment. The applicant’s claims were thus dismissed in their entirety. 9. At the close of the hearing the City Court read out the operative part of its judgment. 10. On 17 January 2005 the applicant’s representative received a copy of the City Court’s reasoned judgment. 11. The applicant was born in 1957 and lives in Ulyanovsk. 12. A private individual brought proceedings against the applicant seeking recovery of a debt in the amount of 1,116,619 Russian roubles (RUB). 13. At a public hearing on 13 October 2008 the Leninskiy District Court of Ulyanovsk examined the case in the presence of the claimant and the applicant’s representative. It ordered that the applicant pay the amount of the debt in full, as well as interest in the amount of RUB 10,000 and the court fee in the amount of RUB 2,861.19. 14. At the close of the hearing the District Court read out the operative part of its judgment. 15. On 16 October 2008 a copy of the District Court’s reasoned judgment was sent to the applicant by post. 16. At an open hearing on 25 November 2008 the Ulyanovsk Regional Court examined the case on appeal in the presence of the parties’ representatives. It dismissed the applicant’s appeal and upheld the judgment. At the close of the hearing the Regional Court read out the operative part of its judgment. 17. On 9 December 2008 the applicant’s representative received a copy of the Regional Court’s reasoned judgment. 18. The applicant was born in 1958 and lives in Tyumen. 19. The Tavda Town Administration brought proceedings against the applicant for recovery of “unjust enrichment” in the amount of RUB 175,276.40 resulting from the use of a plot of urban land for a period of two years and interest in the amount of RUB 17,704.57. 20. At a public hearing on 26 June 2009 the Tavda Town Court of the Sverdlovsk Region examined the case in the presence of the claimant’s representative and the applicant. It found for the claimant and ordered that the applicant repay the sum gained through unjust enrichment and interest as claimed, as well as the court fee in the amount of RUB 3,529.80. 21. At the close of the hearing the Town Court read out the operative part of its judgment. 22. On 2 July 2009 the applicant received the Town Court’s reasoned judgment. 23. The applicant appealed against the judgment. 24. On 18 August 2009 the Sverdlovsk Regional Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal and upheld the Town Court’s judgment. It rejected the applicant’s argument that the Town Court’s judgment had not been pronounced publicly as required by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, stating that the Town Court had read out the operative part of its judgment at the hearing and prepared the reasoned judgment within five days thereafter in compliance with domestic law. 25. The applicant was born in 1946 and lives in Moscow. 26. The applicant brought proceedings against the Moscow department of the Federal Service for State Statistics, challenging its refusal to employ her for the campaign of the population census on the ground of her disability and claiming damages in the amount of RUB 356,145. The applicant argued, in particular, that despite her disability she was perfectly fit for the work and that she had successfully performed that type of work in the past. 27. At a public hearing on 30 October 2009 the Basmanniy District Court of Moscow examined the case in the presence of the applicant and the defendant’s representative. It dismissed her claims in full, having found, inter alia, that the refusal to employ her had been lawful in view of a medicosocial expert report confirming her total incapacity for any kind of work. The District Court noted that it had been open to the applicant to challenge the conclusion of the medico-social expert report, but that she had chosen not to do so. At the close of the hearing the court read out the operative part of its judgment. 28. On 17 November 2009 the applicant received a copy of the District Court’s reasoned judgment. 29. On 28 January 2010 the Moscow City Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal and upheld the District Court’s judgment. The City Court read out the operative part of its judgment at the close of its public hearing in the presence of the parties’ representatives. The applicant’s representative received a copy of its reasoned judgment in March 2010.