Dismissal due to unreasonable ground of Cassation by the Supreme Court does not affect the fair trial
JUDGMENT
Sturm v. Luxembourg 22-06-2017 (no. 55291/15)
SUMMARY
Right to a fair trial. Rejection of the appeal and of the 14 ground of appeals as unjustified. The ECtHR has ruled that there is no violation by the national courts.
PROVISION
Article 6
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicant, Robert Sturm, is a Luxembourg national who was born in 1963 and lives in Canach (Luxembourg). The case concerned the dismissal of Mr Sturm’s appeal on points of law on the grounds that he had not expressed his arguments in accordance with the relevant legal requirements.
Mr Sturm was made subject to compulsory retirement in March 2012. He applied for a pension with immediate effect, but his application was rejected by his employer on the grounds that payment of the pension had been deferred to the age of 65. Mr Sturm lodged an appeal with the Luxembourg Labour Court against his employer, relying on a Grand-Ducal Regulation which, he submitted, imposed a length of service of 15 years as the sole condition for awarding the pension. The court dismissed that appeal in March 2013, which decision was upheld on appeal in March 2014. Mr Sturm lodged an appeal on points of law, which was, however, dismissed in May 2015 on the grounds that the fourteen grounds of appeal which he had set out had not met the requirements of the Law on cassation proceedings.
Relying on Article 6 (right to a fair trial/right of access to a tribunal), Mr Sturm complained about the dismissal of his appeal on points of law.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
No violation of Article 6 § 1
