CASE OF PEREIRA SANTOS v. PORTUGAL
Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Civil proceedings;Article 6-1 - Reasonable time)
Helen Keller;Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque
4. The applicant was born in 1965 and lives in Mem Martins (Portugal). 5. The applicant is a former employee of G.N., a media company which entailed a collective dismissal in 2009. The applicant was dismissed on 4 May 2009. 6. On 27 October 2009 he brought an action against the company before the Labour Court of Lisbon (ação especial de impugnação do despedimento colectivo), seeking his reintegration and the payment of extra workload, (domestic proceedings no. 2150/09.9TTLSB-A). 7. On 16 March 2010 his case was joint to others related to the same collective dismissal. 8. On 25 October 2010 the applicant sent a letter to the court drawing its attention to the existence of a delay in the proceedings. The court replied on 26 October 2010 saying that some parties in the proceedings still had to be summoned. 9. Between 4 February 2011 and 9 May 2011 the labour court and the parties in the proceedings appointed experts to give technical assistance in the proceedings, as established by law. 10. On 6 September 2011 the experts presented their report. 11. On 31 October 2011 a preliminary hearing took place. 12. On 15 November 2011 the applicant contested the expert’s report. On 2 December 2012 the court notified the experts and on 9 February 2012 granted more 30 days for the submission of their observations. 13. On 27 March the applicant was notified of the experts’ reply and submitted his observations on 26 April 2012. 14. On 11 October 2012 the applicant informed the labour court that he had reached an agreement with the company. On 22 October 2012 the labour court endorsed the agreement.