In the determination of his civil rights and obligations, everyone is entitled to a fair and public lawsuit by a court within a reasonable time. This constitutional principle has so far not been very well elaborated and litigants have only been able to enforce this right in front of an international court. This will change on the 1st of January 2022, when the law on pecuniary compensation for delays in civil lawsuits is expected to enter into force. But how will enforcement change and what will be the cost of unreasonableness? In this article we look for answers to these questions.
Hungary has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in a number of cases for breaching the above principle. The judgments usually pointed out that Hungarian law had not yet provided means to hold the Hungarian state responsible, thus forcing the petitioner to pursue his claims in front of an international forum. The new law is aimed to tackle this default, which, while below the desirable level of ECHR practice, provides financial compensation to parties whose cases have been protracted beyond a reasonable time. What is reasonable time? Some cases are resolved in one or two trials, others drag on for years, even more than 10 years, while others are brought to a judge in first instance several times because of a mistake by the court. Who means what under ‘reasonable’?
As a general rule, the following time limits are considered reasonable under the promulgated law:
| Procedure at first instance | 30 months |
| Procedure at first instance preceded by a payment order | 36 months |
| Procedure at second instance | 18 months |
| Final remedy at the Supreme Court | 12 months |
In some cases, however, the lawsuit duration is lower:
| Type of lawsuit | Duration of procedure at first instance (in brackets if the action was preceded by a payment order) | Duration of procedure at second instance | Duration until final decision | Final remedy at the Supreme Court |
| Employment lawsuits | 18 (24) months | 12 months | 36 months | 6 months |
| Lawsuits concerning personal status | 18 (24) months | 12 months | 36 months | 6 months |
| Press correction lawsuits | 18 (24) months | 12 months | 36 months | 6 months |
An important difference from the practice of the ECHR is that the promulgated law does not provide for the inclusion of the time passed during the suspension of the lawsuit in the above-mentioned duration of proceedings.
According to the promulgated law, financial compensation is to be awarded for each calendar day in which the duration of the lawsuit or the duration of each stage exceeds the duration specified in the tables above.
Unfortunately, the progressive nature of the above legislation has faded away when it came to determining the amount of financial compensation. The amount of the compensation is namely HUF 400 per calendar day exceeding the reasonable period of time defined above, which is significantly below the amounts typically applied by the ECHR. For example, in the case of a lawsuit that exceeds the reasonable time limit by 2 years, the new legislation will entitle the party concerned to compensation of less than HUF 300,000, while the ECHR would award thousands of euros in compensation in a similar case. However, since a remedy to the ECHR is only possible in the absence of national legislation, it is advisable to submit such claims to the ECHR before the law enters into force.