Your case should be examined within a reasonable time. It is important to avoid an overly long period of uncertainty in your legal status and to maintain trust in the work of the courts.
Long periods of time with no activity in a case are not permissible. The frequent changing of judges or their excessive workload cannot be used as an excuse for excessive delays in your case.
What is a reasonable length?
A reasonable length for a trial depends on the circumstances of each case. To determine whether the court (or the State in general) can be blamed for taking too long to deal with your case, the following have to be taken into account:
- the complexity of your case
- your own behavior, number of your written submissions, the number and scope of evidence and the actions of the other party
- the conduct of the court and state authorities
- what is at stake in the case
The court should use its powers to ensure that the trial moves on effectively. Long periods of time with no activity in the case are usually not permissible.
example It would not be reasonable for a administrative action challenging an election by one unsuccessful candidate to take several years to examine. However, a complex public procurement decision of the Public Procurement Office challenged before an administrative court involving more unsuccessful economic undertakings, a public procurer and the Public Procurement Office who are actively using their rights to appeal various procedural decisions, could reasonably take several years to examine.
The other party
Normally the court cannot be blamed for your behavior or the other participant’s actions, such as the failure to attend court sessions by the other party or by an important witness required by that party.
In order to reduce the use of so-called delaying tactics such as the filing of various requests for no good reason, the Slovak law allows a judge to decide not to take into account the evidence submitted after the initial written observations on the case. It is possible unless new fact (not included in initial observations) emerged that needs to be proved or disprove. The parties have a clear statutory obligation to provide all necessary evidence in a timely manner.
How to complain
The chief justice of the particular court is responsible for the timely examination of the cases in his or her court. If you believe that your case is being handled carelessly and risks exceeding reasonable time limits, you should file an application to the chief justice of that court.