ALERT: Українці, увага! Тут ви можете знайти важливі посилання з інформацією про ваше перебування в Чеській Республіці.

Published on June 17, 2015 News

Appropriate compensation for unreasonable length of proceedings

The ombudsman received a complaint against the procedure of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (hereinafter the “Ministry”) where the complainant claimed appropriate compensation in a case of failure of the Labour Office of the Czech Republic, regional branch in Brno, to meet the statutory deadline for issuing a decision on provision of allowance for care. The wife of the complainant filed an application for the allowance in August 2012, but the Labour Office reached a decision only in July 2013 and the Ministry decided about the appeal against the decision in January 2014. The Ministry refused to provide the compensation and the complainant was dissatisfied with this situation. On Ombudsman’s request, the Ministry stated that it did not dispute the existence of delays in proceedings, but it rejected the complainant’s right to claim compensation for the intangible damage incurred, stating that it was a personal claim pertaining solely to the wife of the complainant who, however, had died in November 2013. In its statement, the Ministry argued that the mere acknowledgement that a right had been breached was sufficient.

The ombudsman based her investigation on the assumption, which was confirmed by the judgement of the Supreme Administrative Court of 9 October 2014, ref. No. 9 Ads 119/2014-50, at www.nssoud.cz, that both spouses, i.e. the husband and the wife, were parties to the proceedings on allowance for care. In the notice of provision of assistance, the complainant is indicated as the person providing care to the applicant, therefore the complainant became the procedural successor to his deceased wife already in the course of proceedings before administrative authorities. The ombudsman thus concluded that if the complainant had been the successor of his wife in proceedings on the allowance for care, there can be no doubt that he was also a person authorised to raise his own claim for appropriate compensation for undue delays in proceedings.

The ombudsman concluded, correspondingly to the judgement of the Supreme Administrative Court of 5 October 2010, file No. 30 Cdo 4815/2010, at www.nssoud.cz, that if the legal successor of a party to delayed proceedings raises his own claim for appropriate compensation in money for intangible damage, the Ministry must also take into account the duration of the proceedings held with his legal predecessor. In evaluating further conditions necessary for the liability for intangible damage caused by undue delays in proceedings to arise, the ombudsman further referred to the Opinion of the Civil and Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic of 13 April 2011, file No. Cpjn 206/2010, No. 5/2011 Coll. of the SC, at www.nsoud.cz.

Following the publication of the ombudsman’s investigation report, the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs reconsidered the complainant’s request and awarded him an appropriate compensation in an amount exceeding CZK 13,000.

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