THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Applications nos. 39002/05, 15884/06, 23043/06, 25937/06, 28373/06, 37050/06, 38615/06, 41353/06, 41362/06, 43992/06, 44405/06, 45619/06 and 50592/06 
by Martina LAMPREHT and 12 others
against Slovenia
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 24 November 2009 as a Chamber composed of:
	Josep Casadevall, President,
	Elisabet Fura,
	Boštjan M. Zupančič,
	Alvina Gyulumyan,
	Egbert Myjer,
	Luis López Guerra,
	Ann Power, judges,
and ,
Having regard to the above applications,
Having regard to the Government’s settlement proposals made to the applicants,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicants except Mr L. Gaši are all nationals of Slovenia (see the attached appendix). The applicant Mr L. Gaši is a national of Serbia.
The applicants Ms Lampreht, Ms Poteko and Mr Gaši were represented before the Court by Mrs M. Končan Verstovšek, a lawyer practising in Celje. Mr Turina, Ms Turina and Mr Kavčnik were represented by Mr Z. Lipej, a lawyer practising in Medvode. Mr Valentinčič was represented by Mr L. Benigar Tošič, a lawyer practising in Ljubljana. The applicants Mr and Ms Žagar were represented by Ms M. Krainer, a lawyer practising in Radovljica. Mr Zabukovnik was represented by Mr F. Repnik, a lawyer practising in Celje. Mr Tojnko was represented by Mr B. Verstovšek, a lawyer practising in Celje. Mr. Modrijančič was represented by Mr A. Fijavž, a lawyer practising in Celje. Ms Ibrišič was represented by Mr J. Žorž, a lawyer practising in Koper. The applicant Ms Miklič was not represented before the Court.
The Slovenian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr Lucijan Bembič, State Attorney-General.
A.  The circumstances of the case
The applicants were parties to proceedings which terminated before 1 January 2007.
B.  Relevant domestic law
The Act on the Protection of the Right to a Trial without Undue Delay (Zakon o varstvu pravice do sojenja brez nepotrebnega odlašanja, Official Journal, No. 49/2006 – “the 2006 Act”) became operational on 1 January 2007.
Section 25 lays down the following transitional rules in relation to applications already pending before the Court:
Section 25 - Just satisfaction for damage sustained prior to implementation of this Act
“(1) In cases where a violation of the right to a trial without undue delay has already ceased and the party has made a claim for just satisfaction with the international court before the date of implementation of this Act, the State Attorney’s Office shall offer the party a settlement on the amount of just satisfaction within four months of the date of receipt of the case referred by the international court for the settlement procedure. The party shall submit a settlement proposal to the State Attorney’s Office within two months of the date of receipt of the proposal of the State Attorney’s Office. The State Attorney’s Office shall decide on the proposal as soon as possible and within a period of four months at the latest.....
(2) If the proposal for settlement referred to in paragraph 1 of this section is not acceded to or the State Attorney’s Office and the party fail to negotiate an agreement within four months of the date on which the party made its proposal, the party may lodge a claim [for just satisfaction] with the competent court under this Act. The party may lodge a claim within six months of receiving the State Attorney’s Office reply that the party’s proposal referred to in the previous paragraph was not acceded to, or after the expiry of the period fixed in the previous paragraph for the State Attorney’s Office to decide whether to proceed with settlement. Irrespective of the type or amount of the claim, the provisions of the Civil Procedure Act concerning small claims shall apply in proceedings before a court.”
COMPLAINTS
The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention that the civil proceedings had been excessively long. They also complained that they did not have an effective domestic remedy in this regard (Article 13 of the Convention).
THE LAW
In the present cases, the Court notes that, after the Government had been informed of the applications under Article 54 § 2(a) of the Rules of Court, all the applicants received the State Attorney’s Office’s settlement proposals under section 25 of the acknowledging a violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time and offering redress for non-pecuniary damage . It further notes that the applicants have since then been in a position to either negotiate a settlement with the State Attorney’s Office or, if that would be unsuccessful, lodge a “claim for just satisfaction” in accordance with the relevant provisions of the 2006 Act . The latter has been considered by the Court to constitute appropriate means of redressing a breach of the reasonable time requirement of Article 6 that has already occurred (see Pohlen v Slovenia (dec.), no. 28457/03, §§ 40-43, 3 June 2008, and Kešelj and 6 others v. Slovenia (dec.), nos. 20674/05, 20680/05, 28380/05, 28441/05, 38861/05, 39198/05 and 44915/05, 19 May 2009).
The Court reiterates Article 37 of the Convention, which in the relevant part reads as follows:
“1.  The Court may at any stage of the proceedings decide to strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that
...
(c)  for any other reason established by the Court, it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application.
However, the Court shall continue the examination of the application if respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto so requires.
Having regard to the foregoing, the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue with the examination of the applications as far as they concern length of proceedings and that should be struck out of the list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c). In reaching this conclusion, the Court has taken into account its competence under Article 37 § 2 of the Convention to restore the case to its list of cases if it considers that the circumstances justify such a course.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
 to join the applications;
Decides  to strike the applications out of its list of cases.
	Santiago Quesada	Josep Casadevall 
	Registrar	President

Appendix

No.	Application No.	Applicant’s Name	Year of Birth	Address	Date of Introduction	Date of settlement proposal or agreement signed by the State Attorney	
1.	39002/05	Martina LAMPREHT	1956	Slovenske Konjice	13/10/2005	16/02/2009	
2.	15884/06	Ivana POTEKO	1963	Griže	09/03/2006	01/09/2009	
3.	23043/06	Marjan TURINA
Bogdana TURINA	1953
1955	Dobravlje	04/05/2006	19/05/2009	
4.	25937/06	Jože VALENTINČIČ	1946	Ljubljana	05/06/2006	12/06/2009	
5.	28373/06	Dunja MIKLIČ	1957	Trebnje	12/06/2006	29/05/2009	
6.	37050/06	Latif GAŠI	1962	Klina,
Serbia	05/09/2006	16/09/2009	
7.	38615/06	Milan Bogdan ŽAGAR	1936	Brežice	15/09/2006	13/08/2009	
8.	41353/06	Tadej ZABUKOVNIK	1983	Polzela	29/09/2006	16/09/2009	
9.	41362/06	Jurij KAVČNIK	1975	Brezovica pri Ljubljani	29/09/2006	29/07/2009	
10.	43992/06	Jožefa ŽAGAR	1939	Brežice	15/09/2006	13/08/2009	
11.	44405/06	Zvonimir TOJNKO	1966	Celje	18/09/2006	10/09/2009	
12.	45619/06	Branko MODRIJANČIČ	1960	Ljubljana	28/09/2006	23/07/2009	
13.	50592/06	Emira IBRIŠIČ	1955	Izola	29/11/2006	10/06/2009