Court delays ruling in Pruunsild and Humal damages case eight times

The Tallinn Administrative Court has postponed its ruling eight times in a damages claim brought against the Estonian state by entrepreneur Parvel Pruunsild and politician Priit Humal, ERR reported. The court has cited the case’s legal complexity, the size of the file and its workload.

Pruunsild and Humal are seeking compensation, arguing that the state failed to protect their rights when collecting and retaining personal data and did not bring the relevant laws into line. The latest postponement came on Wednesday. The new deadline for the ruling is October 29.

Anneli Vilu, a spokesperson for the Tallinn Administrative Court and Tallinn Circuit Court, said the judge believes this is likely to be the final delay. She said the court had set short deadlines over the summer in the hope that the judge would have more time to review the materials than proved possible.

The case combines two claims and raises complex questions about a long-running conflict between Estonian and European Union law. The claims rely on both sets of laws, and proceedings also raised whether to initiate constitutional review after a conflict with EU law had been acknowledged, Vilu said.

The case file exceeds 5,000 pages, in addition to lengthy and complex EU court decisions and legislation. The judge is also handling three other complex, large-scale disputes alongside urgent cases that must be heard quickly, Vilu said. She added that rising caseloads and increasingly complex cases are putting pressure on courts more broadly.

The claimants have said that, during criminal proceedings, they learned that Telia Eesti had provided the prosecutor’s office with personal data collected about them. They argue that a 2021 Supreme Court ruling means EU law does not allow data to be retained and used for criminal proceedings. They also say the relevant provision conflicts with Article 11 of Estonia’s Constitution and that their data was collected and retained unlawfully.