It’s my business, the column of the rights of the daily life leans today on the committee of the general states of justice which returned this summer a very severe report on the slownesses of justice. Litigants can be compensated within 10 to 12 months. Illustration with the industrial tribunal.
franceinfo: Having your case heard within a reasonable time is a fundamental right, and you can very easily be compensated?
Philippe Duport: Yes, a right recognized by the European Convention on Human Rights and by the code of judicial organization. But completely unknown to the general public. Justice must therefore be rendered to you within a “reasonable time”. It was the court that set these reasonable deadlines.
Even if it is valid for all types of litigation, we will focus on industrial tribunals, emblematic of delays in justice. In practice, in Nanterre, for example, the slowest court in France, it can take three years. However, case law says that the reasonable time before a labor court is 16 months of proceedings and before a court of appeal, it is 12 months.
If therefore the reasonable period is exceeded, can one obtain compensation?
Yes, and for that it is necessary to engage the responsibility of the State, under the pretext that there was a denial of justice. You have to write a letter of formal notice, it necessarily goes through a lawyer. The action will take place in court. And there is not the slightest suspense.
We are just going to check that your time to act has not exceeded, in this case it is four years, and we are going to assign you, in nine cases out of ten, as specified by a lawyer specializing in these actions, Me Alexandra Sabbe – Ferri, allowances.
How many ?
First, there is compensation for moral damage. Very important, you can be compensated, whether you won or lost your case, and whether you are an employee or an employer. The court will award you between 150 and 200 euros per month of delay.
There is also the financial loss. It is calculated in relation to the unavailability of the sums that you could have won. So, there, it is reserved for the winners of the procedures. And finally there is the partial reimbursement of legal costs, what is called article 700. On average, it is 600 euros per file. Total, according to official statistics, those who initiate this procedure against the State earn 6,690 euros for denial of justice.
The procedure is simple and yet it is totally unknown…
Yes, 350 files of this type have been filed on average over the past four years, while it is estimated that 120,000 files would be eligible. Not to mention that the procedure is fast: it takes on average 10 to 12 months to be compensated.